


1 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



\\ 




John Wesley. 



WESLEY 

AND HIS FRIENDS: 



ILLUSTRATING 



THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT OF THEIR 
TIMES. 



BY THE AUTHOR OF 

"TOWERS OF HON," "TRIUMPHS OP INDUSTRY," ETC. 




AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

s No. 316 CHESTNUT STREET. 

NEW YORK- No. 147 NASSAU ST. 

BOSTON: No. 9 CORNHILL CINCINNATI 41 WEST FOURTH ST. 

LOUISVILLE: No. 103 FOURTH ST. 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by the 

AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 

Pennsylvania. 



4^ No books are published by the American Sunday- School Union 
without the sanction of the Committee of Publication, consisting of four- 
teen members, from the following denominations of Christians, viz. Bap- 
tist, Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and 
Reformed Dutch. Not more than three of the members can be of the same 
denomination, and no book can be published to which any member of tlie 
Committee shall object 



PREFACE. 



In collecting the materials for this work, 
the author has assured himself of their au- 
thenticity, even to the slightest incidental 
illustration ; and he has attempted to pre- 
sent them in a style adapted to the youngest 
and not distasteful to the oldest reader. 

It will be seen that the arrangement of 
the matter of the volume is somewhat 
topical; while the chronological order of 
events is, it is hoped, sufficiently indicated. 
The adoption of this course has much in- 
creased the labour of compilation, but we 
think it will add to the interest and im- 
pressiveness of the work. 

The author is aware of the difficulty of 
presenting a sketch of Wesley so as to give 
an outline of his character and the im- 



6 PREFACE. 

portant facts of his long and eventful life, 
yet not obtrude offensively upon the honest 
sentiments of those who differ from him in 
some points both of doctrine and practice. 
With a full conviction of these difficulties, 
he has written right on, aiming to speak 
candidly, and presuming upon the candour 
of his readers. 

He now sends forth the results of his 
labour on its errand of love, earnestly de- 
siring that to the mature Christian it may 
be a voice of encouragement, to the young 
convert a stimulus to diligent labour, and 
to all a source of interest and instruction. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

ANCESTORS. 

PAGE 

Wesley's ancestors — Bartholemew "Wesley — John Wesley 
the First — Anecdote of his Bishop — Suffering for con- 
science* sake — The two John Wesleys alike in character 
— The faithful minister — Dr. Samuel Annesley 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Wesley's parents. 

Ep worth — Samuel Wesley, Sen. — His college life — Clas- 
sical attainments — Poetry — Susannah Wesley — Her edu- 
cation — Method of teaching her children to read — 
Family government — The religious training of her 
children — Influence over her sons while they were in 
college — The offended curate — A revival — Mrs. Wesley's 
defence of it — Remarkable traits of her character 21 

CHAPTER III. 

FORMING-PERIOD OP WESLEY'S CHARACTER. 

The old parsonage at Ep worth — The rescue — The mo- 
ther's feelings in view of this rescue — Brothers and 
sisters — Samuel — Charles — Emily — Susannah — Mary — 
Mehetabel — Anne — Martha — Keziah — The Charter- 
House School — Wesley enters Oxford — Moral dangers 

of college — An ambitious student 31 

1 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

WESLEY A RESIDENT GRADUATE AT OXFORD. 

PAGB 

An awakened conscience — Parental advice — Ordination 
— College "Fellowship" — Choice of companions — Sub- 
mission to parents — Systematic study — Wesley at Wroote 
— Renewed convictions for holiness — Charles Wesley— 
The despised band — John Wesley the leader of the 
band — The aims and practices of the band — An anecdote 
— A simple style of writing and speaking formed — 
Names of reproach — Sickness of Wesley's father — Wes- 
ley requested to succeed his father at Epworth 40 

CHAPTER V. 

A SEA-VOYAGE. 

An important proposal — The Wesleys decide to go to 
Georgia — Their object — Employment of time — Anecdote 
of John Wesley — Feelings during a storm — Arrival at 
Savannah 52 

CHAPTER VI. 

INCIDENTS OP TWO YEARS IN AMERICA. 

An interesting interview — Wesley at Savannah — The Mo- 
ravians — Severe discipline — Plain preaching — Labours 
for the children — Charles Wesley at Frederica — His 
sufferings — He returns to England — John Wesley — 
General Oglethorpe and Wesley — Miss Hopkey and 
Wesley — Wesley prosecuted — His proposed return to 
England 56 

CHAPTER VII. 

A NEW ERA. 

On shipboard — Renewed convictions — Sad reflections — 
Peter Bonier: a friend in need — Salvation by faith 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGE 

alone — Self-renunciation — Doubts removed — Seeking 
salvation through faith — Charles Wesley — His convic- 
tion — A beautiful hymn — The Pearl found — The imme- 
diate fruit — A hymn of praise — A brief review 62 

CHAPTER VIII. 

INCIDENTS OP A TOUR IN GERMANY. 

Unexpected opposition — Distracting sentiments — Wesley 
starts for Germany — A profitable interview — Count Zin- 
zendorf — The Moravians at Marienborn — Hernhuth — 
The missionary spirit of the Moravians — Suggestions 
and encouragement — Wesley's return to England — 
Charles Wesley — A pleasant meeting of the brothers.... 71 

CHAPTER IX. 

FIELD-PREACHING. 

Just commencing — George Whitefield — His college career 
— His first sermon — The spiritual state of England at 
this time — The pulpits denied to the Reformers — The 
"Societies" — The first thought of field-preaching — "A 
memorable watch-night" — Whitefield at Kingswood — 
The first field-sermon — Its effects — The Wesleys at Lon- 
don — Charles Wesley at Islington — Whitefield and 
John Wesley at Bristol — Wesley's prejudices against 
field-preaching — His first field-sermon — Whitefield 
at Moorfields — Wonderful effects — Charles Wesley 
"abroad." 79 

CHAPTER X. 

SOME OF THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF FIELD-PREACHING. 

Charles Wesley at Bristol — The first Methodist chapel — A 
school for the children — Charles Wesley and the mob — 
John Wesley in Wales — The world Wesley's parish 94 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XL 

NOBLE WOMEN. 

PAGE 

The rich and noble — The Duchess of Buckingham — The 
Countess of Suffolk — The Prince of Wales — Pious no- 
blemen — Lady Hastings — Countess Huntingdon — Her 
faithfulness after conversion — Intimacy with the Wes- 
leys — Her usefulness — Miss Bosanquet — Lady Glen- 
orchy — Her talents and labours — Lady Maxwell — Her 
labours for the poor — An important truth 106 

CHAPTER XII. 

FOLDS FOR THE LAMBS. 

Separation — " The Old Foundry" — An important sugges- 
tion — Class-meetings — The rules of the societies — 
if Quarterly meetings" — "Love-feast tickets" — White- 
field's " Tabernacle" — His societies — Mr. Ingham — 
Lady Huntingdon's connection — Character of her author- 
ity — Her mode of government — Society usages — Lady 
Glenorchy's societies — The necessity for these Folds 114 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SHEPHERDS. 

Co-labourers — Their relations to each other — Philip Dod- 
dridge — Dr. Isaac Watts — William Romaine — Henry 
Venn — Henry Piers — Vincent Perronet — Johu Ber- 
ridge — John Fletcher — Fletcher's choice of a parish — 
President of Lady Huntingdon's theological school — 
Mr. Venn's opinion of Fletcher 123 

CHAPTER XIV. 

"THE HELPERS." 

The necessity for more labourers — Maxfield, the first lay- 
preacher — The offence of his preaching — His final ordi- 



CONTENTS. 11 

PAGB 

nation — John Nelson — His first public efforts — David 
Taylor — Mr. Thorpe — Character of the " helpers" — 
Unfortunate disagreement — The reconciliation 131 

CHAPTER XV. 

IN PERILS. 

Opposition from the clergy — Charles Wesley prosecuted 
— A ludicrous accusation — More serious opposition — 
The mobs of "Wednesbury — The leaders subdued — A 
visit to the magistrates — The Walsal mobs — Wonderful 
moral power — A happy retreat — Charles Wesley on the 
field of contest — An appeal to law — Impressment of the 
Methodists — John Nelson seized — His heroic bearing — 
He persists in preaching while a soldier — His release 
throwgh Lady Huntingdon's influence 139 

CHAPTER XVI. 

DIVINE CHASTENINGS AND HUMAN INFIRMITIES. 

Bereavements — John Wesley and Grace Murray — A 
painful disappointment — John Wesley's marriage — 
James Wheatley — Debate concerning the Lord's sup- 
per — Consequent meeting of the Conference — Charles 
Wesley and this Conference — The renewal of the Cal- 
vinistic controversy 150 

CHAPTER XVII. 

EXTENDED ITINERATING. 

Wesley's visit to Newcastle — Great wickedness — Visits 
Epworth — Death of Wesley's mother — Scotland — Wes- 
ley's visit to that country — An incident — Ireland — Wes- 
ley's first visit — Persecutions — Thomas Walsh — White- 
field — Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
— Dr. Coke in the West Indies — Provisions for the 
transfer of Wesley's authority 157 



12 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SAVING AND GIVING. 

PAGE 

"We belong to God" — Lady Glenorchy's benevolence — 
Anecdote of Mrs. Fletcher — Berridge's habits of giving 
— Lady Huntingdon and her fortune — Wesley — His 
economy — His donations — His plans of usefulness to the 
poor — The last entry on his accounts — Anecdote con- 
cerning his plate — A poor man relieved 169 

CHAPTER XIX. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OP CHARACTER. 

Abundant labour — An interesting question — Early rising 
— His value of time — His punctuality — Habits of order 
— Private prayer — Severity and brevity of speech — In- 
cidental illustrations — A refractory "helper" — Sharp- 
ness and relenting — Reputation given to God — An In- 
cident 178 

CHAPTER XX. 

OLD AGE — "THE LAST OP EARTH." 

Wesley in old age — Personal appearance — His language 
at seventy-two — Feelings at eighty-six — Honours re- 
ceived at Falmouth — Love for children — Robert Southey 
and his little sister — Wesley and the son of an early 
friend — The children of Sheffield and Wesley — Wesley 
and the two boys who quarrelled — Mr. Knox's account 
of Wesley's old age — Wesley's feelings in his last 
years — A last visit to the City Road Chapel — Last 
sermon — Resting at last 186 




LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER L 

john wesley's ancestors. 

John Wesley could not say, as Napoleon 
once said, "I am the first of my family." 
Among his ancestors there had been many 
noted ministers. 

Bartholomew Wesley, his great-grand- 
father, was rector of Catherston, in Dorset- 
shire, England, in 1650, but was removed from 
the ministry for not conforming to the national 
church. He was educated at Oxford Univer- 
sity. He was noted for a peculiar plainness 
of speech, which rendered his preaching not 
very popular. 

John Wesley, son of Bartholomew, was also 
a minister, but not very regularly introduced 
into the holy office, according to the laws of 
his country. After receiving his education at 
Oxford, he became a member of " a particular 

2 13 



14 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

church at Melcombe." His father had earnestly 
prayed at his birth that he might be called to 
the sacred office. He had educated him in re- 
ference to a spiritual as well as literary pre- 
paration for its duties. While a mere lad in 
school, he had become deeply convinced of sin, 
and was seriously concerned for his salvation, 
which he sought with great earnestness. He 
began at this early period to keep a diary, which 
he continued until his death, noting in it his 
varied experience in the divine life. This ex- 
ample was, no doubt, the spring in part of the 
same practice with his eminent grandson. He 
began his public labours by calling the seamen 
of his neighbourhood to repentance ; and, God 
blessing his labours, he was sent forth to preach 
by "the particular church" of which he was a 
member. For this irregularity he was desired 
to allow the bishop to see and converse with 
him. We present a part of the conversation 
between them, as it exhibits the peculiar Wes- 
ley an spirit of the preacher and the very can- 
did and liberal conduct of the prelate. 

Bishop. — What is your name ? 

Wesley. — John Wesley. 

Bishop. — There are many matters charged 
against you. 

Wesley. — May it please your lordship, Mr. 
Horlock was at my house on Tuesday night, 
and acquainted me that it was your lordship's 
desire I should come to you ; and on that ac- 
count I am here to wait upon you. 



JOHN WESLEY THE FIRST. 15 

Bishop. — By whom were you ordained? or 
are you ordained ? 

Wesley. — I am sent to preach the gospel. 

Bishop. — By whom were you sent ? 

Wesley. — By a church of Jesus Christ. 

Bishop. — What church is that ? 

Wesley. — The church of Christ at Malcombe. 

Bishop. — In what manner did the church 
you speak of send you to preach ? At this rate, 
everybody might preach. 

Wesley. — Not every one. Everybody has 
not preaching gifts and preaching graces. Be- 
sides, this is not all I have to offer your lord- 
ship to justify my preaching. 

Bishop. — If you preach, it must be according 
to order, — the order of the Church of England 
upon ordination. 

Wesley. — What does your lordship mean by 
an ordination ? 

Bishop. — Do you not know what I mean ? 

Wesley.— If you mean that sending spoken 
of in Rom. x., I had it. 

Bishop. — I mean that. What mission had 
you? 

Wesley. — I had a mission from God and 
man. 

Bishop. — You must have it according to law 
and the Church of England. 

Wesley. — I desire several things may be laid 
together which I look on as justifying my 
preaching. 1. I was devoted to the service 
from my infancy. 2. I was educated thereto 



16 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY 

at school and in the university. 3. As a son 
of a prophet, after I had taken my degrees, I 
preached in the country, being approved by 
judicious, able Christians, ministers and others. 
4. It pleased God to seal my labour with suc- 
cess, in the apparent conversion of several 
souls. 

Bishop. — Well, then, you will justify your 
preaching, will you, without ordination accord- 
ing to law ? 

Wesley. — All these things laid together are 
satisfactory to me for my procedure therein. 

Bishop. — Have you any thing more to say 
to me, Mr. Wesley ? 

Wesley. — Nothing. Tour lordship sent for 
me. 

Bishop. — I am glad I heard this from your 
mouth. You will stand to your principles, you 
say ? 

Wesley. — I intend it through the grace of 
God; and to be faithful to the king's majesty, 
however you deal with me. 

Bishop. — I will not meddle with you. 

Wesley. — Farewell to you, sir. 

Bishop. — Farewell, good Mr. Wesley. 

The bishop was as liberal in practice with 
the lay preacher as he had been plain in 
speech. He never " meddled" with him. But 
there were a few only, in those times of excited 
passions, who were like-minded. At the age 
of twenty-two, Mr. Wesley preached to a com- 
pany of believers at Winterborn, on a yearly 



JOHN WESLEY'S ANCESTORS. 17 

income of about one hundred and thirty dollars. 
He married a relation of the celebrated Dr. 
Thomas Fuller, chaplain to Charles II., a lady 
of superior education, ability and religious 
worth. But he was not long permitted to 
enjoy domestic felicity. He was prosecuted, 
fined, and removed from his people, for lay 
preaching, after having ministered to them 
about four years. He then itinerated through 
several towns, preaching in private dwellings 
to congregations of humble and sympathizing 
people. His words were earnest, practical, and 
imbued with a deep spirituality ; and, as it was 
with his Master, " the common people heard 
him gladly." At length a friend gave him the 
use of a house at Preston, free of rent. Here 
and in the neighbourhood he preached the word 
in a private manner until his death, not, how- 
ever, without many interruptions and much 
sacrifice and suffering. Soon after his removal 
to this place, a law passed Parliament that no 
ejected minister should reside within five miles 
of the people for whom he had formerly 
laboured. As Preston was only three miles 
from Melcombe, complaints were entered 
against him and he was obliged to leave his 
family and conceal himself. He was frequently 
arrested for attempting to exercise the duties 
of his holy calling, and was four times im- 
prisoned. 

He continued thus to suffer and to preach 
until he was about forty-two years of age, when 

2* 



18 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

God removed him to his reward. His widow 
survived him thirty-two years, enduring the 
burdens imposed by poverty, and meeting with 
Christian firmness and integrity the responsi- 
bilities of a family at first numerous, but re- 
duced, early in her widowhood, to two sons. 

We have dwelt thus long upon this ancestor 
of the second John Wesley, because there are 
so many striking points of resemblance between 
them. We see in the former the independence 
of thought and speech and action of the latter. 
The one practised as a lay preacher what the 
other defended and encouraged, and on the 
same grounds. Though the grandson was more 
successful and became more celebrated, yet in 
the history of John Wesley, Sen., we may 
trace the starting-point of the spirit, if not the 
form, of Methodism. 

The grandfather of John Wesley on his 
mother's side was Dr. Samuel Annesley, who 
from his early childhood was remarkable for 
his love of the Scriptures. When only six 
years of age he was in the habit of reading 
twenty chapters a day. Both his mother and 
grandmother had prayed that he might become 
a preacher of the gospel ; and he was educated 
according to this hope. 

At the age of fifteen he entered Oxford 
University. Here he lived so plainly and was 
so constantly engaged with his books that the 
young men pointed at him as singular. But 
this did not move him. Through his diligence 






THE FAITHFUL MINISTER. 19 

he graduated as one of the best scholars. From 
his youth he desired to become a minister, and 
now he began to preach. His first employ- 
ment was as a chaplain on board one of the 
kind's ships. After spending some time in this 
situation he left the sea and settled in a parish 
from which the minister who preceded him had 
been removed for uniting with dancing and 
drinking-parties on the Sabbath. The people 
had been like their minister. But their new pas- 
tor began to reprove them faithfully. For this 
they assailed him w T ith pitchforks and stones, and 
threatened to take away his life. Instead of 
becoming angry or leaving them, he calmly 
said, " Use me as you will; I am determined 
to stay with you until God shall fit you by my 
ministry to profit by one better ; and I now 
promise that when you are so prepared I will 
leave the place." 

In a few years the people were greatly re- 
formed. Many had become truly pious, and all 
were much attached to their pastor. But, lest 
the cause of religion should suffer by any ap- 
parent want of honesty in him in not keeping 
his engagement, he left them, as he had pro- 
mised. 

When the Parliament made the law to which 
we have referred, requiring all ministers to 
conform to the Church of England, Dr. Annes- 
ley was one who thought he could better serve 
God by not doing so. He therefore was re- 
moved from a very honourable place which he 



20 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

occupied in the king's service at London, and 
suffered much, though far less than the other 
grandfather of John Wesley. He continued 
to preach until the year of his death, which oc- 
curred in the seventy-seventh year of his age. 
He died after a long and painful sickness, ex- 
claiming with his latest breath, " I shall be 
satib.^d! satisfied! my dearest Jesus! I 
come!" 

It is an interesting fact, especially in con- 
nection with the biography which we are 
writing, that this distinguished man lived under 
great self-discipline. He drank only water. 
He studied in a room at the top of his house, 
with the windows open and without fire, summer 
and winter. He had considerable income from 
property he had inherited, besides his salary ; 
but he set apart one tenth for benevolent pur- 
poses of all he received, before using a dollar 
in any other way. 

Such were some of the sources of ancestral 
influence in the character of the founder of 
Methodism. 




Wesley's Father. 



WESLEY'S PARENTS. 21 



CHAPTER II. 

WESLEY'S PARENTS. 

Epworth, in England, is a small market- 
town, one hundred and ten miles northwest of 
London, in Lincolnshire. It contained in Wes- 
ley's day about two thousand inhabitants, whose 
principal occupation was the raising and pre- 
paration of hemp and flax, and in manufactur- 
ing coarse articles out of those materials. To 
this village the Rev. Samuel Wesley, the father 
of John Wesley, removed in 1693. He became 
the rector of the church on an income of about 
five hundred dollars. The house in which 
he first lived, though differing in style, some- 
what resembled a Western log-cabin of our 
own country. It was built of timber and 
mud, plastered without, and thatched with 
straw. 

Samuel Wesley, of whom we are now writ- 
ing, was about ten years old when his father, 
the first John Wesley, died. He had, even 
then, received from his learned father a good 
beginning of a knowledge of Latin and Greek. 

Notwithstanding his father and grandfather 
suffered much for dissenting from the esta- 
blished church, Samuel became a zealous de- 



22 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

fender of its doctrines and government at the 
early age of sixteen. The following year he 
walked to Oxford, with about twelve dollars in 
his pocket and no expectation of assistance 
from his friends, and entered Exeter College. 
By economizing rigidly and helping some of 
the collegians in their studies, and by writing 
for the press, he paid the whole expense of his 
collegiate course, and after his graduation 
walked to London to obtain ordination. After 
various changes, we find him settled in the 
parish we have described. To this people he 
ministered forty years, and with them closed 
his earthly labours. 

Samuel Wesley was a good classical scholar 
He studied the Scriptures diligently in their 
original languages. In the latter part of his 
life he wrote a learned comment on the book 
of Job, upon which he bestowed much labour. 
Some of his hymns have been sung by thou- 
sands of the people of Grod until now, and will 
long remain among the songs of Zion. The 
well-known hymn commencing 

" Behold the Saviour of mankind" 



was written by him. 

He was a faithful preacher, with much of the 
plainness of speech which belonged to all the 
Wesley family. He was diligent in overseeing 
the spiritual interests of his flock, visiting the 
sick, instructing the children, and seeking ac- 
quaintance with the strangers who came among 






WESLEY'S PARENTS. 23 

rhem. He died in great peace in Christ, in 
1735, aged seventy-two. 

Susannah, mother of John Wesley, was one 
of twenty-five children of Dr. Samuel Annesley. 
She was a woman of remarkable personal 
beauty. But she was distinguished for a higher 
recommendation than that. She had a well- 
cultivated mind, read Latin and Greek with 
readiness, and had a good acquaintance with 
the more common branches of education. Par- 
taking of the spirit of her father, she delighted 
most in theological study, not even neglecting 
difficult questions of religious controversy. 
When only sixteen years of age, she examined 
the questions in dispute between the Dissenters 
and the established church, and, notwithstand- 
ing the influence of her father's example and 
her early education, decided in favour of the 
latter, and became from that time one of its 
most zealous members. She was married to 
Samuel Wesley at the age of twenty. She was, 
by natural gift and education, methodical and 
energetic. Her peculiar system of teaching 
her children to read was suggested by an in- 
cident in the early life of her first-born son, 
Samuel. Yet the use she made of the circum- 
stance exhibits her systematic habits. 

Samuel was dumb until he was five years old, 
and, it was feared, would never speak. His 
mother, having missed him one day for a con- 
siderable time, called out, with some earnest- 
ness, "Where is Samuel?" Samuel at that 



24 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

moment came creeping from his hiding-place 
with a favourite kitten in his arms, with which 
he had been playing, and exclaimed, " Here 
am I, mother." From that time he spoke 
readily. 

She commenced immediately to teach him 
to read. She taught him the whole alphabet 
in six hours given to that one object, and then 
set him to read the first verses of Genesis. 
His mother said of him at a subsequent time that 
his memory was so good that she could not re- 
member having to tell him the same word twice. 
Mrs. Wesley became the teacher of her chil- 
dren through all their primary education. Her 
system was rigid. Six hours a day were as- 
signed for study. During this time they were 
kept closely to their books, without being al- 
lowed to rise unnecessarily from their places 
or to speak to each other. At the end of the 
first three months of study — that is, when they 
were five years and a quarter old — they could 
read better, the mother affirms, " than most 
persons can do as long as they live." 

A regular method of living was required of 
the children, from their birth, as to their dress- 
ing and all their domestic and personal habits 
From the time they were put in their cradles 
there was a fixed period for their sleeping and 
waking, to which the children had to conform, 
Their meals and their behaviour at table were 
regulated with great strictness; and, by be- 
ginning early in their discipline, perfect order 









JOHN WESLEY'S ANCESTORS. 25 

and obedience were secured in the family. 
They were brought up to treat all persons with 
respect ; they were not allowed to be rude and 
boisterous, and were forbidden to keep com- 
pany with those who would teach them bad 
language or rough manners. 

Mrs. Wesley made the instant and unques- 
tioning obedience of the children a principal 
point. This requirement was early made and 
never relinquished. 

To the Lord's Prayer were added other 
prayers from time to time, as they could un- 
derstand them. They were taught to ask a 
blessing at the close of the family prayers, as 
soon as they could speak sufficiently ; and be- 
fore this age they were instructed to do it by 
signs. 

They were early shown the duty of regard- 
ing the Sabbath with great respect. Reverence 
for every ordinance of Grod was so deeply im- 
pressed upon their minds that, by the divine 
blessing, throughout the lives of the children 
it became inseparable from their thoughts and 
actions. 

Among the "By-laws," as she called them, 
in the discipline of Mrs. Wesley, were the fol- 
lowing : — To encourage a frank confession of a 
fault by a lighter punishment, or an entire ac- 
quittal, as a consequence ; and not to upbraid 
the children for faults which they had confessed 
or for which they had been corrected. She in- 
variably commended them for the performance 



26 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

of a right act, especially if it was difficult or 
required much self-denial. 

The disciplinary care for her children of 
this remarkable woman was not thrown off when 
they arrived at a responsible age and were re- 
moved from the parental roof. During the re- 
sidence of her sons John and Charles at the 
academies where they completed their prepa- 
rations for the University and during their 
collegiate days, her letters to them are as 
remarkable as her previous discipline. If they 
were perplexed with a difficult point in religion, 
she discussed it with them, and not unfrequently 
removed their doubts. When they were per- 
plexed concerning practical duties, the mother's 
letters, more explicitly and fully than the 
father's, instructed them. 

When her children's minds were in the most 
susceptible state to receive religious instruc- 
tions, she wrote out for them at large the evi- 
dences of Christianity, and prepared a brief 
explanation of the leading doctrines of Scrip- 
ture. 

An incident in the history of Mrs. Wesley 
shows that others shared in the interest she 
felt in the salvation of souls. Her husband 
was frequently absent at Convocation, as it 
was called, of the representatives of the church, 
at London. During one of these seasons, on a 
Sabbath, after the service, she was reading and 
expounding portions of the Bible to her family. 
This was usual with her ; but her heart was at 



john Wesley's ancestors. 27 

this time unusually moved for the salvation of 
souls. One of her daughters had been reading 
to her a history of the Danish missions. The 
sufferings of the missionaries and their intense 
desire for the salvation of men had greatly 
quickened her religious feelings. Under these 
circumstances, some of the parishioners who 
were providentially present were greatly in- 
terested, and felt deeply under her burning 
words. They returned home and related to 
their neighbours what they had heard. Others 
on the next Sabbath came together, and were 
equally interested. On succeeding Sabbath 
afternoons the parsonage was thronged, not 
less than two hundred pressing together to- 
hear the word. 

The assistant minister whom Mr. Wesley 
had left in charge of his parish was an igno- 
rant man. He became jealous and highly in- 
dignant at this labour of the rector's wife, 
considering it an invasion of his ministerial 
sphere. 

Before the assistant's anger had shown it- 
self, Mrs. Wesley had written to her husband, 
informing him what the Lord had wrought by 
her hands. He cautiously objected that her 
course was singular; that it might seem un- 
suited to her sex, and that it might be deemed 
a reproach to his public station : to which she 
replied, that all seriousness and earnest labour 
for souls was singular to an irreligious world ; 
that it could not be an impropriety for a woman 



28 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

even, to read from God's book, and to add 
words of instruction to her children, her ser- 
vants and others, in her own house ; and that 
his station could not be disgraced by her thus 
labouring in his absence to secure the great 
end of a Christian ministry. Mr. Wesley was 
satisfied, and withdrew his objections. 

Thus matters stood when the assistant be- 
gan to manifest his jealousy. He wrote Mr. 
Wesley a fiery letter. Terrible things, he said, 
had happened at the parsonage. The cause 
of ministerial dignity had been greatly dis- 
paraged. Mrs. Wesley was holding a " Con- 
venticle," — a name given in derision to the as- 
semblies of Dissenters, and very offensive to 
their ears. Mr. Wesley was alarmed. His con- 
cern for exact conformity to the requirements 
of the church was a ruling feeling of his mind. 
He wrote a letter to his wife, requesting her 
to discontinue the meetings. She received 
the request with great self-possession, and an- 
swered it with firmness and overpowering argu- 
ment. She said that through the meetings of 
which his assistant complained, the affections 
of the people had been turned more than ever 
to their pastor's family, thereby affording them 
a greater means of doing them good; that 
Sabbath-breaking had been generally discon- 
tinued ; that from two to three hundred persons 
came to evening lectures in the church, to which 
only twenty or twenty-five came before ; and 
that persons had attended the ministrations 



john Wesley's ancestors. 29 

of the house of God on the Sabbath who had 
not been for seven years before. She also 
urged the evident misrepresentations of the 
assistant, and his plain unfitness to judge in 
matters of practical piety. 

The latter reason may seem uncharitable to 
Christians of this age, when ministers are ex- 
pected to be, and so generally are, men of real 
godliness. But it was not so one hundred and 
fifty years ago. 

Mrs. Wesley closed her letter by saying that, 
since religion might be so much injured by the 
discontinuance of the meetings, she desired 
not his request merely, but his command, to 
discontinue them. 

The piety, good sense and sound reasoning 
of Mrs. Wesley prevailed. The meetings, un- 
der her influential guidance, increased in reli- 
gious interest ; and the parish was blessed by 
what would now be designated as a "revival 
of religion.' ' Souls were believed to be con- 
verted to Christ, and an extensive reforma- 
tion of the outward manners of the people 
followed. 

The reader will not fail to discern, in what 
we have written of this remarkable woman, 
strong religious feeling, great earnestness and 
a rare gift of influencing others. 

We see in her character the leading features 
of the character of her most eminent son, and 
in the influence exerted by her at Epworth, the 
3* 



30 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

seeds of the work of which he was so prominent 
an instrument. 

Mrs. Wesley survived her husband about 
seven years, and lived to see in its earliest 
stages the reformation under her sons and 
their coadjutors, and to rejoice greatly in it. 



WESLEY'S CHILDHOOD. 31 



CHAPTER III. 

FORMING-PERIOD OF WESLEY'S CHARACTER. 

The character and habits of some of the an- 
cestors of John Wesley have been laid before 
the reader, not merely because of the relation- 
ship of these persons to the subject of this 
volume, but chiefly to show the connection be- 
tween his own qualities and those of the per- 
sons who had the greatest influence in forming 
his character. To the observing mind, this will 
be an interesting and instructive preparation 
for the more immediate subject of our nar- 
rative. 

John "Wesley was born June 17, 1703, in 
the old timber-and-mud and straw-thatched 
parsonage of Epworth. The means of his pa- 
rents were hardly sufficient, with all Mr. Wes- 
ley's economy, for the support of the large 
family ; and their trials in this respect were 
increased by the burning of their dwelling and 
all it contained. 

This event, which took place in 1709, was 
attended by a circumstance of striking interest 
connected with John Wesley. 

Mrs. Wesley, being sick, was sleeping with 
the two oldest daughters. Mr. Wesley was in 



32 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

an adjoining room. The servant-girl was sleep- 
ing in the nursery with five of the children, and 
one daughter was in a room alone. About 
twelve o'clock at night the last-mentioned 
child was awakened by a spark from the roof 
falling upon her bed. At the same instant 
Mr. Wesley was aroused by the cry in the 
street of " Fire!" Springing to his feet, he soon 
found it was his own house. He then aroused 
Mrs. Wesley, and bade her escape with the 
two daughters while he alarmed the others and 
assisted in their rescue. Bursting open the 
nursery-door, he called to the servant-girl to 
flee with the children with all possible haste. 
Then taking the two youngest, she told the next 
to follow. When they had reached the lower 
hall, Mr. Wesley recollected that he had left in 
the chamber the key of the front door. He had 
just, with the utmost haste, recovered it, when 
the stairs were burned away and fell. On at- 
tempting to open the door leading to the street, 
the wind drove the smoke and flames so vio- 
lently against them that they found it impos- 
sible to get out in that direction. The dis- 
tressed father hastened with the children to an- 
other door which opened into the garden, through 
which he with a part of the children reached 
the open air. Others of them followed through 
a window. But Mrs. Wesley, being weak with 
her recent sickness, lingered behind. She had 
made several ineffectual attempts to follow. 
Her strength being nearly exhausted, she earn- 



WESLEY S CHILDHOOD. 66 

estly besought the Saviour for help, and then 
she pressed her way, amid the scorching heat, 
through the garden-door. 

The happy parents were about to congratu- 
late themselves that all had been delivered 
from the fire, when the cry of little John was 
heard at the nursery-window. In the hurry 
the servant had forgotten him ! He lay sleep- 
ing until the light of the burning roof above 
streamed upon his head and awakened him. 
Thinking it was morning, he called to be taken 
up. Seeing fire, and finding he was alone, he 
climbed upon a chest under the window and 
cried piteously. Some of the men called for a 
ladder. "No," said one more thoughtful, 
"there will not be time to get one before the 
roof falls in. Let me stand under the window, 
and some tall man stand upon my shoulders 
and reach the child." They did so, and the 
parents soon embraced all their children. 

"Come, neighbours," said Mr. Wesley, see- 
ing that all had escaped, " let us kneel down 
and give thanks to God. I have all my chil- 
dren, and I am rich enough." And there, at 
midnight, while the flames were making them 
homeless and destitute, their thanksgiving arose 
to God. 

The cause of this disaster was thought to be 
the anger of some of Mr. Wesley's parishioners 
leading them to set fire to his house. They 
had resented his plain-dealing. He had been un- 
sparing in his rebukes of their outbreaking sins. 



34 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

This narrow escape of little Wesley impressed 
his parents with, the idea that God had pre- 
served the child for some special work. The 
mother expresses her feelings in a recorded 
evening meditation, entitled "Son John:" — "I 
do intend to be more particularly careful of the 
soul of this child, that Thou hast so mercifully 
provided for, than ever I have been; that I 
may do my endeavour to instil into his mind 
the principles of thy true religion and virtue. 
Lord, give me grace to do it sincerely and pru- 
dently, and bless my attempts with good 
success." 

The influence of brothers and sisters upon 
each other in a well-regulated family is emi- 
nently useful. They stimulate each other's re- 
ligious feelings, and sharpen by contact each 
other's intellects, especially if they possess more 
than common ability. We should not there- 
fore exhibit all the forming influences in the 
early days of John Wesley, if we did not at 
least glance at the family circle and briefly 
sketch the brothers and sisters. 

Samuel Wesley, Jr., the eldest son, was 
eleven years older than John. He exercised 
almost a parent's care over his younger brothers 
and sisters. He assisted his father in his 
poverty from his own small income, at a great 
sacrifice of personal convenience. He sup- 
ported in part his brothers John and Charles 
in college. He became a minister of the 
Established church and an acknowledged friend 



Wesley's childhood. 35 

and intimate of the great and good of his age. 
He possessed the family plainness of speech 
and independence of action, which, it is said, 
prevented his advancement in the church, es- 
pecially as he was on the unpopular side in 
politics. He wrote poetry with considerable 
success. The beautiful hymn beginning, 

"The morning flowers display their sweets," 

was written by him. His brother John must 

of necessity have felt the favourable influence 

of such a brother. 

Charles Wesley's history is so interwoven 
I with John's, that we shall unavoidably narrate 
J much of it in the course of this biography. 

He was five years younger than John. In his 
I boyhood he possessed much vivacity, and he 
i was full of impulsive and generous feeling. If 

John was inclined to be retiring and sedate, 

Charles could rouse him from his reveries and 
, quicken his love of humour and playfulness. 

Charles had, more than any of the family, the 

temperament of a poet. 

But the influence of the seven sisters who 
j grew up to womanhood must not be left out 
! of the account of the formation of a brother's 
| character. Five of them were older than John. 
| Emily, who exercised over him an older sister's 
i care, possessed a noble yet affable countenance 

and a kind and affectionate heart. Susannah, 
! next in age, was "beautiful," facetious and 

romantic. 



36 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Mary received in her infancy, from the care- 
lessness of her nurse, a deformed body. But 
nature had given her, in compensation, a beau- 
tiful countenance, an amiable disposition and 
rare endowments of mind. She was the fa- 
vourite of the family. 

Mehetabel, known among the children of 
the family as " Hetty," and sometimes " Kitty," 
was the scholar among the sisters, and even 
perhaps excelled her brothers in aptness for 
learning. At eight years of age she had made 
a good beginning in Latin and read the Greek 
Testament with facility. She was from child- 
hood gay and sprightly. She indulged her 
wit so freely that it gave her parents some 
solicitude. It was indeed a snare to her. She 
was the last of the children who became a sub- 
ject of saving grace. 

Anne came next in age; and, though pos- 
sibly not acting the least part in the childish 
influences of the family, yet of her the least is 
known. But Martha, next younger than John, 
left her mark on her associates. She preferred 
to sit near her mother in her chamber and 
listen to her conversation, to joining in the re- 
creations of the children. Martha's partiality 
for her mother scarcely exceeded John's partial- 
ity for Martha. This arose in part, perhaps, 
from their striking resemblance in features and 
similarity in disposition. Even their hand- 
writing was almost identical in appearance. 

John and Martha were united in strong af- 



WESLEY S CHILDHOOD. 61 

fection in childhood and through a long life 
of nearly ninety years, and in death were not 
divided. They died within a few months of 
each other, and were the last of the family. 

Keziah, the only remaining sister, was dis- 
tinguished from the others by a constitutional 
feebleness of body, which served to call into 
action their sympathy and impress them more 
deeply with the greatness of their own blessing 
of good health. 

In the bosom of such a family, surrounded 
by such brothers and sisters, the early mental 
and religious habits of John Wesley were 
formed. 

When eleven years old, he was placed at the 
Charter-House School in London. A city is a 
dangerous place to which to bring from the 
country a boy of that age. But John Wesley's 
home-discipline, by the blessing of God, proved 
a safeguard against its temptations. His 
teacher was amiable and accomplished. The 
government of the school was in striking con- 
trast with that he had up to this time attended 
under his mother's guidance in the Epworth 
parsonage. The larger boys tyrannized over the 
smaller ones, and were to a great extent mas- 
ters of the school. Notwithstanding his bad 
treatment from the older boys, his recollections 
of this school, in manhood, were pleasant. He 
visited the spot frequently during his after-life, 
and lingered around its premises with unabated 
interest. Though not then pious, he had been 
4 



38 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

diligent in his studies, respectful to his teachers, 
and careful of his health and morals. He could 
therefore in manhood look upon the time-worn 
buildings of the institution without shame. 

At the age of sixteen, Wesley entered Ox- 
ford University. Here were fresh studies, 
new scenes, and imminent dangers to his moral 
habits. In the English universities at that 
time only a small number of the students were 
there because they valued an education. They 
were the sons of rich and titled families, to 
whom the empty name of a university educa- 
tion had some attractions. The care of Wes- 
ley's parents followed him within the college 
walls. With his mother especially he advised 
during the years of his college-course, and was 
made to feel, by her frequent and vigorous 
letters, that he was still under her eye. He 
devoted himself so diligently to the Greek lan- 
guage that his fellow-students called him "the 
Grecian." During the four years which passed 
while he was preparing for the degree of Bache- 
lor of Arts, he was an ambitious and success- 
ful student. He had entered college with a 
thorough preparation, good health, and firm 
moral principles ; but we have no evidence that 
during this important period he was particularly 
interested in the duties of religion. He had 
been admitted to the Lord's supper at eight 
years of age by his father, and of this solemn 
ordinance he continued to partake, but not with 
heart-felt interest. His affections were on 



Wesley's childhood. 39 

books, attainments and distinctions. He was 
accomplished and respected, and had before 
him a wide field in which to gratify his love of 
learning. In the midst of such pleasing pros- 
pects, how many young men forget God ! So, 
in a measure, had John Wesley forgotten him, 
until God's Spirit used new occasions to re- 
impress his mind with the importance, above 
every thing, of the life to come. 



40 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 




CHAPTER IV. 

WESLEY A RESIDENT GRADUATE AT OXFORD, 

The universities of England are quite dif- 
ferent from those of the United States. Each 
one includes many colleges. That of Oxford 
has twenty. Each of these colleges has its 
separate teachers, funds and examinations. 
After the student has received his degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, he usually remains to pursue 
his studies until he receives the degree of 
Master of Arts. 

John Wesley, having now taken his first de- 
gree, began to reflect seriously upon the solemn 
responsibilities of becoming a gospel minister, 
as" his parents desired him to be. What were 
the proper motives for wishing to become one ? 
Was he prepared in heart for so great a work ? 
Could he, with a good conscience before God, 
take upon himself its solemn ordination-vows? 
These were questions, with many others, which 
he proposed to himself; and they induced the 
most searching self-examination. He wrote to 
his parents on the subject. His father re- 
minded him that none should take this office 
upon himself except he was called to it by the 
Holy Ghost, and that his motive must be God's 



WESLEY AT OXFORD. 41 

glory. He thought he need be in no haste to 
be ordained, but that further study, writing and 
prayer would afford clear light concerning his 
duty. His mother recommended a close self- 
examination, an entire devotion to religious 
things, and a diligent seeking after personal 
salvation, lest after having preached to others 
he might lose his own soul. 

In accordance with this advice, he waited 
one year, and was ordained a deacon in the 
Established church in the autumn of the year 
1725, being about twenty-two years of age. 

In the spring of 1726, a " Fellowship" had 
become vacant in Lincoln College. The " Fel- 
lows" are chosen from the graduates of the 
University. The best scholars are selected as 
candidates. They are required to submit to a 
strict examination in all the branches of ac- 
complished scholarship. The ablest scholar, 
in the judgment of a thoroughly-educated com- 
mittee, obtains the place. The Fellows generally 
reside at the college, receive room-rent, board, 
and about nine hundred dollars salary, and ap- 
pear to be required to do nothing more than to 
sustain the character of accomplished scholars. 
From their number the tutors are commonly 
chosen, so that the way to a professorship and 
other offices in the college lies through a Fel- 
lowship. 

Wesley's friends desired him to become a 
candidate for the vacant position, and exerted 
their influence to secure his election. But a 
4* 



42 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

violent opposition was raised against it. His 
singular strictness of life, which had now be- 
come known among the residents of the uni- 
versity, was urged against him. Abundance 
of ridicule was hurled at his character, but it 
fell harmless at his feet. His integrity and 
scholarship could not be questioned, and, his 
examination being satisfactory, he was elected 
to the Fellowship. 

After the election he removed to his rooms 
in Lincoln College. In his previous relation 
to Christ's Church College he had been an- 
noyed by undesirable acquaintances. Having 
no associates in his new position, he determined 
to select only congenial spirits. Many young 
men called upon him. All of them he treated 
courteously, and observed closely the spirit of 
each one. Such of them as he thought would 
be profitable to him in carrying out his settled 
purpose to live only for God he called upon. 
The others, having visited him once or twice, 
and seeing that their proposed acquaintance 
was not accepted, called no more. Thus his 
associates became few and select. 

In April, 1726, Mr. Wesley visited Epworth. 
He preached frequently for his father, and as- 
sisted him in various ways in his public duties. 
His studies were pursued with the same regu- 
larity and industry as if he were at the uni- 
versity. He availed himself of the opportunity 
to converse with his parents on religious topics. 
This he did especially with his mother.' He 



WESLEY AT OXFOKD. 43 

referred to her doctrinal and practical ques- 
tions by which he was perplexed. Very 
few children ever recognized more fully pa- 
rental superiority. He who subsequently did 
so much in governing others had fully sub- 
mitted even in manhood to parental govern- 
ment; and he who so successfully became a 
teacher of multitudes had first sought a mo- 
ther's instruction. 

He returned in September to college, and 
was appointed Greek lecturer and presiding 
officer of the meetings of the classes for dispu- 
tation, which were held six times a week. 
Logic had been a favorite study with him, and 
this office gratified his taste and improved his 
power of discrimination. He was at the same 
time pursuing his studies with great regularity. 
After having, in February, 1727, taken his 
Master's degree, he was left at liberty to se- 
lect his own course of study, and he adopted 
the following. Mondays and Tuesdays were 
devoted to Greek and Roman classics, histo- 
rians and poets ; Wednesdays to logic and ethics ; 
Thursdays to Hebrew and Arabic ; Fridays to 
metaphysics and natural philosophy ; Saturdays 
to oratory and poetry, — chiefly composing ; and 
Sundays to divinity. Occasional hours were 
given to acquiring a more perfect know- 
ledge of French, to letter-writing and general 
reading. He read with pen in hand, copying 
such passages as he esteemed of special value. 
He began about this time to note in a journal, 



44 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

more particularly than he had done, how he 
spent each hour, and to record the most im- 
portant daily events of his life. This journal- 
izing he continued, recording with great par- 
ticularity the varied scenes of nearly seventy 
years. About this period he commenced con- 
versing with his brother Charles in Latin, — a 
practice which they continued through life. 

Mr. Wesley's father had the " living" — that 
is, the charge and the income — of a small parish, 
in addition to that of Epworth, in the adjoining 
town of Wroote. As he was now infirm, and 
evidently approaching the close of his ministry, 
he requested John to remove to Wroote and to 
assist him in the labour of both parishes. John, 
in compliance, removed thither in August, 
1727, and remained until August, 1729, at 
which time he was recalled to the duties of his 
relations to Lincoln College. While at Wroote 
he was ordained to the full office of the 
ministry. 

Having thus followed Mr. Wesley's literary 
and professional history from his graduation at 
college, we invite the reader's undivided atten- 
tion to his efforts during this period and the 
remainder of his stay at Oxford to obtain the 
favour of God. We have noticed the awakened 
convictions which his ordination to deacon's 
orders excited. He read about this time "The 
Imitation of Christ," by Thomas k Kempis, 
and Bishop Taylor's "Rules of Holy Living 
and Dying." They produced a deep impression 



WESLEY AT OXFORD. 45 

upon his mind. Taylor's views of purity of 
intention, in which he dwells upon the duty of 
doing all to the glory of God, astonished him. 
He taught that in all our worldly business we 
must have this end in view ; and that to aim 
sincerely at the glory of God we must have 
our hearts right with him. The " Imitation 
of Christ" set forth the duty of self-denial 
far too much in the spirit of the Roman Ca- 
tholic requirements of fasting and penance. 
Though Wesley did not receive his opinions in 
this respect, they seem to have influenced his 
j practice greatly, if not unduly. 

While Wesley was striving to improve under 
i these instructors, he read " Law's Serious Call 
to a Holy Life." He formed a personal inti- 
macy with the author, who then resided near 
i London. To his residence he made frequent 
! visits, to obtain from him directions in his ef- 
forts to be holy. Wesley was at first dis- 
I couraged by Law's high standard of Christian 
attainment, and hinted his feelings to him. 
Law replied, "We must aim at the highest 
i degree of perfection, if we may thereby at 
; least attain to mediocrity." Thus stimulated, 
! Wesley more than ever began to work out 
| his salvation with an unbounded zeal and an 
| unwavering integrity ; but with a partial mis- 
1 apprehension of the way in which God was to 
' "work in him' to make him truly a Christian. 
; He says he resolved to dedicate all his life to 
God, — all his thoughts and words and actions, 



46 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

— being thoroughly convinced there was no 
medium, but that every part of his life must 
be a sacrifice to God. He began with greater 
diligence to study the Bible, — to learn to walk 
as Christ walked, — being afraid of allowing 
the least want of conformity to his divine 
Master. 

It was in this frame of mind that he left 
Oxford to officiate as his father's assistant at 
Wroote. At this time his brother Charles 
entered Christ College as a student, being 
about eighteen years of age. His love of 
lively company and worldly amusement had 
become a ruling passion. These, more than 
his studies, occupied his attention. John ex- 
postulated with him; but to his serious per- 
suasions he returned a jocose answer. But 
during John's absence Charles became an 
earnest seeker of religion. His change of 
purpose was referable, he thought, under God, 
to his mother's prayers and teachings. He 
immediately sought and found a few congenial 
spirits. They met occasionally for mutual in- 
struction. They agreed to conform to all the 
college rules ; to receive the sacrament once a 
week, and to live strictly by method. This 
practice, which they diligently carried out, im- 
mediately excited much attention. The stu- 
dents generally were the sons of rich and 
aristocratical parents, and were loose in their 
morals, being accustomed to the freest indul- 
gence. The little company living in self-de- 






WESLEY AT OXFORD. 47 

nial could not, therefore, fail to receive an 
abundance of ridicule. " They are a new 
sect," exclaimed one, "of 'Methodists.' ' He 
might have referred to a class of ancient 
physicians who were so named, or to a reli- 
J gious sect of the preceding century who were 
thus distinguished; or he might have meant 
simply to designate their exact method of liv- 
ing. From this passing remark grew the 
t name of the Christian denomination of which 
j John Wesley is esteemed the founder. 

When John again assumed his duties at Ox- 

[ford, in 1729, he found Charles and his Kttle 

} band steadily pursuing their course. They 

immediately received him as their acknow- 

J ledged head and leader. 

At this point in John Wesley's history 
I (1729) — when he united with the band of 
which Charles was really the originator — is 
( commonly dated the rise of Methodism. The 
most prominent of this company during the 
I following five years were — John and Charles 
\ Wesley; Mr. Morgan, of Christ College; 
Mr. Merton, of Merton College, and, later, 
James Hervey, and the afterwards-distin- 
guished George Whitefield. A few of the 
students of the brothers were at times mem- 
bers. 

This little band, in their efforts to do good, 
j began first with the students of the university. 
,'They d : d not at all times and in all places 
^urge religion upon their attention. This 



48 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

would have been unwise ; but they sought for 
proper occasions and favourable moments. 
At one time, John Wesley invited a young 
man of his acquaintance to walk with him 
They passed around the grounds of a neigh- 
bouring church. At that moment the funeral- 
procession of a young lady of their acquaint- 
ance entered the yard. The time and place 
were suited to impress religious truths. Stop- 
ping short, Wesley, looking solemnly upon his 
friend, said, "You, no doubt, are my friend, 
Why, then, will you not do me all the good 
you can?" The young man began to assure 
him he certainly would, when Wesley replied, 
abruptly, "Then oblige me in this instance — 
which you know to be in your power — by 
allowing me to persuade you to be a whole 
Christian." The earnestness and sincerity of 
Wesley deeply impressed his friend. He be- 
came from that hour earnestly engaged to 
save his soul. 

Sometimes Wesley and his friends would in- 
vite the students to tea. They would engage 
their attention by kindness and courtesy — by 
assisting them in their studies, and other un- 
obtrusive attentions. Thus preparing the 
way, they would invite them "to flee from the 
wrath to come." 

To the new students before they had formed 
unfavourable acquaintances, and to the seri- 
ous, they were especially attentive. They 
called upon them often, and addressed them 



WESLEY AT OXFORD. 49 

affectionately and plainly concerning their 
spiritual state. 

Enlarging their field of labour, they next 
sought the prisoners of the jails of the vi- 
cinity. With them they read the Scriptures, 
conversed and prayed, leaving them such 
books and giving them such advice as they 
thought proper. For such prisoners as were 
confined for small debts they collected a fund, 
by which many poor but honest men were re- 
stored to liberty and their homes. 

John Wesley says that it was by his at- 
tempts to address the prisoners whom he at 
this time visited that he learned to use that sim- 
ple style of language by which afterwards he 
was enabled to write for and to preach to mul- 
titudes of the unlearned. He soon perceived 
that these men understood plain English words 
only; and through life, in his ordinary la- 
bours, he seldom made a Greek or Latin quo- 
tation, or alluded to the literature of those lan- 
guages, though they were quite familiar to him. 

The poor families of the neighbourhood next 
claimed their attention. Upon these, when 
necessary, they bestow T ed small sums of money, 
not only to relieve their wants, but, through 
these gifts, to obtain a more ready access to 
their religious interests. They instructed 
their children in the catechism, and formed 
among them schools, to teach them the com- 
mon branches of education. For several of 
these schools John Wesley provided clothes 
5 



50 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

for the scholars and the pay of the teachers 
from his own purse. That they might have 
money for these charities, they dressed and 
'lived in the plainest manner, and performed 
all their journeys on foot. During their years 
of residence at Oxford John and Charles Wes- 
ley made their frequent visits to Epworth and 
London in this way. The distance to the 
former place, taking in the places they usually 
visited, must have been about two hundred 
miles. During these long walks they accus- 
tomed themselves to read, which they declared 
to be practicable and pleasant, and thus sav- 
ing many days to the acquisition of know- 
ledge. The mode of life which these young 
men pursued — particularly their exposures 
and self-denials in doing good — brought upon 
them great ridicule and reproach. They were 
called "Bible Moths," "Bible Bigots," "The 
Holy Club," and "The Godly Club." Some 
persons of reputed piety and influence being 
drawn into the opposition, their friends grew 
cold, and some of their number left them. 
The answer, if any, which this company made 
to those who thought them too "singular" and 
complained of their "over much" piety, was, in 
effect, "Is not the end we seek — eternal life — 
worth our pains?" 

In 1733, Wesley made a visit to Epworth, 
on account of the feeble health of his father. 
The aged rector, who had now, for forty 
years, proclaimed the word of life in that 



WESLEY AT OXFORD. 51 

place, felt that the time was drawing near 
that he must die. His ten children assembled 
about him. It was their last general meeting. 

During this meeting it was hinted to John 
that it was the wish of the family that he 
should succeed his father in the parish at Ep- 
worth. He thought it was not his duty to ac- 
cept the position. His reasons seemed to cen- 
tre in this one, — he could be more holy, and 
consequently more useful, at Oxford. 

The next year the father died; the parish 
passed into the hands of strangers ; the widow 
went to reside with her daughter Emily, at 
Gainsborough. Very soon after this event, 
providential circumstances — which mark a new 
era in their history — drew John and Charles 
from their coveted retirement at Oxford. 



52 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER V. 

A SEA-VOYAGE. 

Mr. Wesley's father had been employed for 
many years in writing a commentary on the 
book of Job, but died as he was about to have 
it published. The work was brought out by 
his family, and Mr. Wesley took a copy of it 
to London and presented it with his own hands 
to the Queen. While he was in the city for 
this purpose, it was proposed to him that he 
should go to Georgia, (now one of the United 
States,) as chaplain to a colony which had been 
formed there under the superintendence of an 
Englishman named Oglethorpe, afterwards 
known by the title of General. Setting off at 
once for Epworth, he laid the subject before 
his mother. " Go, my son," was her noble re- 
ply. "If I had twenty sons, I should rejoice 
to see them so employed, though I never saw 
them again. " His sister Emily, with whom his 
mother was about to find a home, added, " Go, 
brother ;" and his brother Samuel added his cor- 
dial approval. Charles engaged to accompany 
John as secretary to Mr. Oglethorpe. Their 
object in going they declared to be to save 
their souls and live wholly for God. They 



A SEA-VOYAGE. 53 

looked for greater holiness, because they were 
about to make greater sacrifices. They were 
about to try to draw nearer to God by increased 
mortifications of their natural feelings. They 
had not yet learned as fully as they afterwards 
did to take Christ as the way of holiness. 

"Wesley delighted, too, in the thought of 
preaching to the Indians. He supposed they 
would be more ready to receive the plain and 
full truths of gospel than were the people of 
England, who had sinned against great religious 
light. 

The brothers embarked for America on the 
14th of April, 1735. They were accompanied 
by two friends, who were going as teachers, 
Benjamin Ingham, of Oxford, and Charles De- 
lamotte, son of a London merchant. They found 
already on board twenty-six Moravians, — a re- 
ligious people from Germany, — who were going 
as missionaries to America, to join a company 
of their friends already there. Wesley com- 
menced immediately the study of German, to 
be able to converse with these fellow-passen- 
gers. On the following Sabbath he preached 
upon the quarter-deck his first extemporaneous 
sermon, and administered the sacrament of the 
Lord's supper. 

Wesley and his company made a systematic 
disposal of their time on shipboard. They were 
ready for the duties of the day at four o'clock in 
the morning. They occupied the first hour in 
private prayer. The next two hours they spent 

5* 



54 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

together in a careful study of the Bible. They 
allowed one hour for breakfast and the following 
one for public prayer, and from nine to twelve 
o'clock they were engaged either in learning 
German or instructing the children of their fel- 
low-passengers. The hour of noon was passed 
in accounting to each other for the faithful per- 
formance of this arrangement and in mutual ad- 
monition and counsel. The early part of the 
afternoon was devoted to labour for the irreli- 
gious. An hour of private prayer preceded the 
last meal, and the evening was occupied mostly 
in public worship ; and the day was closed in a 
"class-meeting" for religious improvement. 

The following anecdote is related in con- 
nection with the voyage. One day Mr. Wesley, 
hearing an unusual noise in the cabin of Mr. 
Oglethorpe, stepped in to inquire the cause of 
it, on which the general immediately ad- 
dressed him: — "Mr. Wesley, you must excuse 
me; I have met with a provocation too great 
for man to bear. You know the only wine I 
drink is Cyprus wine, as it agrees with me the 
best of any. I therefore provided myself with 
several dozens of it, and this villain, Grimaldi," 
(his foreign servant, who was present, and almost 
dead with fear,) "has drunk up the whole of it. 
But I will be revenged of him. I have ordered 
him to be tied hand and foot, and to be carried 
to the man-of-war which sails with us. The 
rascal should have taken care how he used me 
&o, for I never forgive." "Then I hope, sir," 



A SEA-VOYAGE. 55 

said Mr. Wesley, looking calmly at him, "you 
never sin." The general was quite con- 
founded at the reproof; and, putting his hand 
into his pocket, took out a bunch of keys, which he 
threw at Grimaldi, saying, " There, villain ! take 
my keys, and behave better for the future." 

Soon after they had entered the broad ocean, 
they encountered a succession of storms. Wes- 
ley, on one of these occasions of great danger, 
asked himself, "Am I prepared to die?" He 
started at the question, and trembled at the 
nearness of death. He was afraid to die. He 
was mortified and confounded at the discovery 
that all his self-denial and labour had produced 
no more satisfactory results. Passing from the 
confusion and dismay among the English pas- 
sengers, he visited that part of the ship occu- 
pied by the Moravians. Among them there 
was no fear of the storm: men, women and 
children were cheerfully singing. Wesley asked, 
"Are you not afraid?" They answered, "No." 
" But are your women and children not afraid ?" 
"No," was the mild reply ; "ourwomen and chil- 
dren are not afraid to die." These Moravians 
were strong in faith in Christ. Their hope lay 
in his grace, and not in their own zeal or merits. 

On the 6th of February, 1736, the vessel 
anchored at a little green island in the Savan- 
nah River. Wesley and his friends ascended 
a beautiful rising ground, and, kneeling down, 
gave thanks to God, who had preserved them 
from the dangers of the ocean. 



56 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER VI. 

INCIDENTS OF TWO YEARS IN AMERICA. 

While waiting in the ship for preparations 
to land, Wesley was visited by one of the Mo- 
ravian pastors of Savannah. They were soon 
engaged in religious conversation. Wesley 
asked the Moravians for their advice concern- 
ing his own conduct. "Have you assurance 
of your acceptance with God," inquired his 
counsellor. Wesley was confused, and knew 
not what to answer. "Do you know Christ?" 
he again inquired. "I know he is the Saviour 
of the world," was the reply. "True," added 
the Moravian; "but do you know he has saved 
you?" "I hope he has died to save me," an- 
swered Wesley. "Do you know yourself?" 
rejoined the other, sadly; to which was replied, 
"I do." "But,"addsWesley,ata later date, "I 
fear they were vain words." He had learned 
afterwards that he did not know himself. 

On leaving the vessel, Mr. Charles Wesley 
accompanied Mr. Oglethorpe to Frederica, 
about one hundred miles south of Savannah, 
to officiate both as his secretary and as the 
minister of that place. John found a home, until 
his own house should be made ready, with the 



TWO YEARS IN AMERICA. 57 

Moravians. He was with them constantly, 
both in public and private, and observed them 
closely. He was deeply impressed with their 
love for one another, their happy frame of 
mind, their deep humility, and their ardent de- 
sire for the salvation of men. Unconsciously to 
himself, they were leading him to a knowledge 
of the simplicity of saving faith in Christ, and 
its holy fruits. 

On the 7th of March, 1736, Wesley began 
his ministry in America. There being no op- 
portunity of teaching the Indians, he ministered 
to the English and French population, per- 
forming at times the service in the language of 
the latter. At first he was flattered by a large 
attendance upon his preaching and the most 
fixed attention. But soon the people were of- 
fended. That severe discipline which Wesley 
had so unsparingly applied to himself he re- 
quired of others. As he believed this to be 
I necessary to salvation, he was consistent in so 
doing. He endeavoured to enforce all the rules 
of the church, though some of them had almost 
! entirely gone out of use, even under the eye of 
! the bishops in England. For the improvement 
of the serious, he united them in " classes" for 
i mutual encouragement, and the most decidedly 
( religious of these he divided into smaller 
1 " bands," for a stricter discipline in working out 
their salvation. 

In all places, both in his own parish and the 
various towns where he preached, he attacked 



58 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

openly the prevailing sins of the people. The 
profane, the Sabbath-breaker, the sordid money- 
seeker, and the trifling neglecter of serious 
things, were faithfully rebuked. He refused 
the sacrament to such persons as did not ap- 
proach the Lord's table in the manner required 
by the rules of the church. He was no re- 
specter of persons in the discharge of the duties 
of his office. The magistrate and private citi- 
zen, the rich and poor, were alike subjects of 
his faithful dealing. Unfortunately for the 
pastor and his people, while in all this conduct 
there was the soundest integrity, there was not 
the tender spirit of love. He sought honestly 
the good only of his people, but it was with 
more of the law than of the gospel. 

While thus engaged for the adults, he did 
not forget his duty to the children. The teacher 
who taught the week-day school instructed the 
children in the catechism for a short season 
every day, under Mr. Wesley's directions. On 
every Saturday their minister met them for 
religious instruction, and a portion of the Sab- 
bath was frequently devoted to the same pur- 
pose. 

While John was thus employed at Savannah, 
Charles was labouring in the same spirit at 
Frederica. The opposition to him took the 
form of violent personal abuse. As secretary 
to the governor, he had expected to be provided 
with every thing required for his living, and 
therefore he brought no beds or furniture from 



TWO YEARS IN AMERICA. 59 

England. A report having been circulated that 
he had tried to induce the people to leave the 
colony, Governor Oglethorpe was greatly of- 
fended at him, and indulged his anger in the 
low revenge of removing from him all these 
necessary articles. He slept in a tent on the 
damp ground, and became seriously ill. All 
forsook him, or openly scoffed at him, except a 
few women, whose kind interference in nursing 
him probably saved his life. While thus low 
and poorly provided with means of comfort, his 
brother visited Frederica. A reconciliation 
with Oglethorpe was immediately effected, and 
Wesley's comforts and influence were restored. 
In August, 1736, Charles was sent on a 
special message to England. Upon John now 
devolved a division of his ministerial services 
between Savannah and Frederica. In the latter 
place he pursued the same course as at the for- 
mer, and with mainly the same effects. In his 
frequent journeys from place to place he passed 
safely through exposures which show the 
strength of his constitution and the value of the 
system of self-denial in which he had trained 
himself. One night he rolled in his sleep from 
the deck of the boat into the river, but swam 
back without any injury. At another time, 
with his friend Delamotte, he was lost in a 
cypress-swamp, through which they had to 
wade waist-deep, and, on reaching dry ground, 
spent the night in sleep, without fire or shelter. 
On a journey from Georgia to South Carolina, 



60 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

with a small party, their path through the forest 
was lost for a whole day and night. 

While Mr. Wesley was thus employed, an 
affair occurred in his history which, though at 
first it seemed likely to produce no remarkable 
results, was the final cause of his leaving 
America. Mr. Oglethorpe, the founder of the 
new colony, was an able and brave, but not a 
religious man. He highly respected the talents 
and independent bearing of Wesley, but he 
was not pleased with his strict religious habits. 
Wesley could not approve the exclusively 
worldly policy which he adopted in the manage- 
ment of the colony. The founder therefore 
devised or countenanced a cunning plan to 
cause him to think more of the world and less 
of religion. 

There was in Savannah a young lady, of a 
respectable family, well educated, and of great 
personal attractions. She was introduced to 
Wesley by Oglethorpe as one who desired re- 
ligious counsel; but the real object was to ren- 
der herself so agreeable to Mr. Wesley that 
he would be induced to marry her, and fall 
under her worldly influence. The young lady 
employed the chaplain as her teacher in the 
French language, professed great interest in 
his religious instruction, and accommodated 
herself to what she saw was most agreeable to 
him. Wesley, not suspecting the deception, 
was well nigh betrayed into the unsuitable alli- 
ance. But the first hint that there was an 



TWO YEARS IN AMERICA. 6] 

artful design alarmed him, and he consulted 
his friend, the bishop of the Moravians. The 
bishop told him that, while it was certainly not 
unlawful to marry, he ought to consider care- 
fully whether the present was the time for him 
to marry, and whether the lady in question was 
a suitable person. Wesley referred the matter 
to the elders of the Moravian church, and pro- 
mised to abide by their decision. They re- 
turned the answer, " We advise that you would 
proceed no further in this business./ ' 

From this time he discontinued his intimacy 

I with the lady, whose subsequent conduct in- 

J creased the evidence of her unfitness to be his 
wife. This lady having soon afterwards mar- 
ried, Mr. Wesley, as her pastor, had occasion 
to reprove her for conduct inconsistent with 

i her Christian profession. He carried this so 
far as to forbid her coming to the Lord's sup- 
per. This gave rise to a difficulty with her 

I family, who attempted to bring the clergyman 
before a civil court to answer for his actions. 

, After much trouble, Mr. Wesley resolved to 

I return to England; and, as it was the chief 

j object of his enemies to drive him away, they 

j dropped the prosecution. 

On the 22d of December, 1737, Mr. Wesley 

j left America, having laboured there one year 

1 and about nine months. 



62 LIFE X)F JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER VII. 

A NEW ERA. 

On his way home to England, Wesley em- 
ployed his time on board the ship as he did 
during the voyage to America. His food was 
of the plainest kind. He laboured faithfully 
with the unconverted, and endeavoured to in- 
struct and prompt to greater diligence those 
who were striving to live a godly life. While 
thus solicitous for others, he was far from be- 
ing satisfied with his own state of heart. A 
violent tempest again led him to inquire, 
"Am I now ready to die?" He looked with- 
in, and he had no peace; all his works had 
not brought an assurance that he was God's 
child. In the bitterness of his feelings he 
exclaimed, "I have been to America to con- 
vert the Indians; but who shall convert me? 
Who shall deliver me from this evil heart of 
unbelief? Oh, who will deliver me from this 
fear of death? What shall I do? Where 
shall I flee from it? * * * It is now more 
than two years since I went to America, in 
order to teach the Indians of Georgia the 
nature of Christianity; and what have I 
learned in the mean time? Why, (what I 



A NEW ERA. 63 

least of all suspected,) that I, who went to 
America to convert others, was never myself 
converted to God. 'I am not mad,' though 
I thus speak; but I speak 'the words of 
truth and soberness,' if haply some of those 
who still dream may awake and see that as I 
am so are they. Are they read in philosophy? 
so was I. In ancient or modern tongues ? so 
was I also. Are they versed in the science of 
divinity ? I too have studied it many years. 
Can they talk fluently upon spiritual things ? 
the very same could I do. Are they plenteous 
in alms? Behold, I gave all my goods to feed 
the poor. Do they give of their labour as 
well as their substance? 'I have laboured 
more abundantly than they all.' Are they 
willing to suffer for their brethren? I have 
thrown up my reputation, friends, ease, coun- 
try ; I have put my life in my hand, wander- 
ing into a strange land ; I have given my 
body to be devoured by the deep, parched up 
with heat, consumed by toil and weariness, 
and whatsoever God shall please to bring 
upon me. But does all this make me accept- 
able to God? Does all I ever did, or can 
know, do, say, or suffer, justify me in his 
sight? Yea, on the constant use of all the 
means of grace, (which nevertheless is meet, 
right, and our bounden duty,) does all this 
give me a claim to the holy, heavenly, divine 
character of a Christian? By no means. * * * 
All these things, when ennobled by faith in 



64 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Christ, are holy and just and good, yet with- 
out it are dung and dross." 

In this spirit of dissatisfaction with himself, 
he landed in England. He continued, not- 
withstanding, to preach, to deny himself, to 
converse with others concerning their souls, 
and, by all possible means, striving to save 
some, " hoping," he says, " that he also might 
be saved, he hardly knew how." 

The following record from his journal will 
show his continued self-discipline : — 

" With regard to my own behaviour, I now 
reviewed and wrote down my former resolu- 
tions. (1.) To use absolute openness and un- 
reserve with all I should converse with. (2.) 
To labour after continual seriousness, not will- 
ingly indulging myself in any the least levity 
of behaviour, or in laughter ; no, not for a mo- 
ment. (3.) To speak no word which does not 
tend to the glory of God; in particular, not to 
speak of worldly things. Others may, — nay, 
must; but what is that to thee? (4.) To take 
pleasure in nothing which does not tend to the 
glory of God ; thanking God every moment for 
all I do take, therefore rejecting every sort and 
degree of it which I feel I cannot so thank him 
in and /or." 

Soon after his arrival he met at London, at 
the house of a Dutch merchant, a Moravian 
missionary, named Peter Bohler, lately from 
Germany, and on his way with others to Ame- 
rica. From him Wesley began to learn not 



A NEW ERA. 65 

only what he lacked in order to become a 
child of God, but — that which he most needed 
to know — how to supply that deficiency. 
Bohler insisted that he must renounce all trust 
in his works, and come at once, by faith 
alone, to Christ. He dwelt upon the assur- 
ance and peace which were wrought in the 
heart through the Holy Ghost by faith. But 
that which astonished Wesley most, and which 
he for some time opposed, was Bohler's de- 
claration that the soul, when broken with 
deep penitence for sin, might, by faith, receive 
immediate pardon and peace. He opposed it 
by his philosophy. But Bohler replied, "My 
brother, my brother ! that philosophy of y our's 
must be purged away." Wesley now took his 
Greek Testament and began anew to read it, 
to learn its teaching concerning the immediate 
fruit of the Spirit through faith. The exami- 
nation resulted in a more painful sense than 
ever of his own wretched condition. He thus 
records his feelings: — 

"I know that every thought and temper of 
my soul ought to bear God's image and super- 
scription. But how am I fallen from the 
glory of God I I feel that I am sold under 
sin. I know that I deserve nothing but wrath, 
being full of all abominations, and having no 
good thing in me to atone for them or to re- 
move the anger of God. All my works, all 
my righteousness, all my prayers, need an 
atonement for themselves ; so that my mouth 
6* 



66 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

is stopped. ' God is a consuming fire.' I am 
altogether a sinner, meet to be consumed." 

In his anxious inquiries after light, the doc- 
trine of the Moravian — that salvation is the 
gift of God through faith — he found con- 
firmed, where he least expected, in the ser- 
mons published by the authority of his own 
church. These he had doubtless read before, 
but with different feelings. His patient 
teacher brought several humble believers, who 
testified that they had an assurance that they 
had peace in believing. He says, " They 
added, with one mouth, that this faith was 
the gift — the free gift — of God. I was now 
thoroughly convinced, and by the grace of 
God I was determined to seek it unto the 
end: — 1. By renouncing all dependence, in 
whole or in part, upon my own works or 
righteousness, on which I had really grounded 
my hope of salvation (though I knew it not) 
from my youth up. 2. By adding to the con- 
stant use of all the other means of grace, con- 
tinual prayer for this very thing, — justifying, 
saving faith; a full reliance on the blood of 
Christ shed for me; a trust in him as my 
Christ, as my sole justification, sanctification, 
and redemption." 

Being thoroughly convinced of his own lack 
of saving faith, Wesley queried whether he 
ought to preach any more until he received it. 
JBut Bohler told him he must preach faith 



A NEW ERA. 67 

until he had it, and then he would preach it 
because he had it. 

Charles Wesley was at this time in London, 
seriously ill. During his interviews with him, 
John plainly declared his new convictions con- 
cerning the way of salvation. Charles was at 
first displeased; but the more the brothers 
conversed, and the more diligently they stu- 
died the Scriptures, the more perfectly the 
clouds withdrew from their minds, and they 
saw and felt the force of that divine word, 
"By grace ye are saved, through faith, and 
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." 
Charles, though suffering great pain of body, 
suffered still more in mind, from a sense of un- 
forgiven sin. He expressed his longing after 
Christ in the following hymn : — 

The blessing of thy love bestow ; 

For this my cries shall never fail ; 
Wrestling, I will not let thee go, — 

I will not, till my suit prevail. 

I'll weary thee with my complaint ; 

Here at thy feet forever lie, 
With longing sick, with groaning faint, 

Oh, give me love, or else I die. 

Without this best, divinest grace, 

'Tis death, 'tis worse than death, to live; 

'Tis hell to want thy blissful face, 

And saints in thee their heaven receive. 

Come, then, my hope, my life, my Lord, 

And fix in me thy lasting home ! 
Be mindful of thy gracious word : 

Thou, with thy promised Father, come. 



68 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



Near the last of May, 1738, the brothers 
within a few days of the same time, both in- 
dulged a hope in Christ. They held him with 
a trembling hand. Charles thus expresses his 
feelings in view of this change : — " My temper 
was mistrust of my own great and before un- 
known weakness. I saw that by faith I 
stood ; and the continual support of faith, 
which kept me from falling, though of myself 
I am ever sinking into sin. I went to bed, 
still sensible of my own weakness, (I humbly 
hope to be more and more so,) yet confident 
of Christ's protection." 

John records, as the immediate fruit of his 
hope of acceptance with Christ, a love for all 
who had despitefully used him. He began to 
feel a peace of mind which he had never felt 
before; yet he had no strong emotions of joy. 
He was much buffeted by temptations ; but 
resorted to prayer, and they were resisted. 
He adds, " I found all my strength lay in 
keeping my eye fixed upon Christ and my 
soul waiting on him continually;" and, "I 
was taught that peace and victory over sin are 
essential to faith in the Captain of our salva- 
tion; but as to the transports of joy which 
usually attend the beginning of it, especially 
in those who have mourned deeply, God some- 
times giveth and sometimes withholdeth them, 
according to the counsels of his own will." 

On the occasion of John Wesley's indulg- 
ing a hope in Christ, his brother Charles ad- 









A NEW ERA. 69 

dressed him m a hymn of congratulation, 
from which we select the following stanza : — 

Bless'd be the Name that sets thee free, — 
The Name that sure salvation brings ! 

The Sun of righteousness on thee 
Hath ris'n, with healing in his wings. 

Away let grief and sighing flee ; 

Jesus hath died for thee — for thee. 

And, the first time they met after the happy 
change, they sang together, in the language 
of Charles, — 

Oh, how shall I the goodness tell, 

Father, which thou to me hast show'd ? 

That I, a child of wrath and hell, 
Should e'er be called a child of God. 



Long my imprison'd spirit lay 

Fast bound in sin and nature's night ; 

Thy eye diffused a quickening ray ; 

I woke ; the dungeon flamed with light ; 

My chains fell off, my heart was free, 

I rose, went forth, and follow 'd thee. 

The events we have just been describing in. 
the experience of John and Charles Wesley 
constituted indeed a new era in their experi- 
ence. From the time they were awakened to 
a concern for their personal salvation at Ox- 
ford, about twelve years before, we have seen, 
them earnest but unsuccessful seekers of justi- 
I fication by their own works. Surely, if any 
could ever find pardon and holiness by such 



70 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

means, they would have found them. What 
toil and self-denial and cross-bearing did they 
not endure! But they only the more fully 
learned that they were "carnal and sold under 
sin." The comfortless result of every effort 
caused each of them to cry out in bitterness 
of spirit, "Oh, wretched man that I am! 
Who shall deliver me from the body of this 
death?" 



A TOUR IN GERMANY. 71 



CHAPTER VIII. 

INCIDENTS OF A TOUR IN GERMANY. 

There was in London an excellent family 
with whom the two Wesleys had resided on the 
most friendly terms when they were in the 
city. This family were familiar acquaintances 
also of their brother, the Rev. Samuel Wesley. 
Here they declared with the utmost frankness 
what Grod had done for their souls, strongly as- 
serting that up to a very recent period they 
had not known the inward work of religion. 

At this these friends were greatly offended. 
They opposed their doctrine and experience 
with great warmth. They had a son, a young 
printer, who sympathized with the sentiments 
of the Wesleys. The parents regarded their 
son as on the verge of spiritual ruin. In their 
distress they wrote a highly-wrought account 
, of the fanaticism of John and Charles Wesley 
to their brother Samuel Wesley, appealing to 
his sympathies as distressed parents, in behalf 
, of their endangered son. Samuel's feelings were 
i aroused against both the doctrine and the con- 
duct as it was represented of his brothers. A 
i long controversy ensued, mostly with John, in 
opposition to salvation by faith alone, and as- 



72 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

surance of acceptance with God. At the same 
time, the much-honoured widowed mother re- 
ceived with much distrust this new view of the 
Christian life. Samuel died soon after, with 
much modified sentiments and a ripened Chris- 
tian experience, and the mother became a cor- 
dial co-labourer, in her declining years, in the 
reformation in which John and Charles were 
engaged. 

While John was feeling the commencement 
of this dissent from his relatives, some of his 
religious teachers at Oxford began to press 
him with distracting sentiments. His religious 
life had begun with much alternation of hope 
and fear. He had peace, but not great joy, 
and he was in frequent heaviness through 
manifold temptations. He was weak in faith. 
But these teachers told him that weak faith was 
no faith at all ; and he that had any doubts and 
fears was not a Christian. This was the be- 
ginning of the development of a great error, 
which brought much injury to the cause of God. 
It was the abuse of the doctrine of faith, by 
which it was not made to include, according to 
the teaching of the apostle James, good works 
as its proper fruit. During this time Wesley 
was meeting weekly with a society in Fetter 
Lane, formed under the direction of Peter 
Bohler. This society had many of the peculiar 
regulations of the future Methodist societies. 
It had its classes and bands, its probation for 
admittance, its strictness of discipline, and the 



A TOUR IN GERMANY. 73 

same professed end, — the holiness of its mem- 
bers. But, notwithstanding the assistance Wes- 
ley received from this society, the opposition 
from the influences we have stated greatly dis- 
turbed his peace of mind. He felt that he 
needed to withdraw from the scene of contest 
until his own heart should be more fully esta- 
blished by divine grace. He had become in- 
terested in the Moravians from Germany from 
the time he first met their missionaries on his 
voyage to America, and this interest had been 
much increased by the spiritual instruction 
given him by Peter Bohler. He therefore de- 
termined to visit them in Germany. He left 
England on the 14th of June, 1738, and the 
next day landed at Rotterdam, in Holland. 
He was accompanied by five Englishmen and 
three Germans. They took the course of the 
Rhine, towards Cleves, on the borders of Prus- 
sia. They travelled mostly on foot, sometimes 
resting by a sail in the boats. Wesley was a 
great admirer of nature and works of art. He 
entered the old Gothic churches of the ancient 
to^ns on his route, admiring their historic 
paintings and impressive architecture. He was 
hospitably entertained on the first Sabbath, at 
Ysselstein, by a German baron. In the morn- 
ing Wesley administered the Lord's supper to 
the English residents and others, and spent the 
remainder of the day with a little band of English 
and Moravians, who had taken up their resi- 
dence in a few humble houses in the outskirts 



74 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

of the town. He says, " We employed our time 
in hearing the wonderful work which God is 
beginning to work over all the earth, and in 
making our request known unto him, and in 
giving thanks for the mightiness of his king- 
dom." He passed through Amsterdam, paused 
for a night at Cologne, and on arriving at 
Frankfort he was cordially entertained by the 
father of his valued friend, Peter Bohler. A 
short distance from Frankfort is Marienborn. 
Here he found Zinzendorf, a German baron, 
who had received and protected the Moravians 
when they had fled from the persecutions of 
their own country, Moravia. He was a noble- 
man of great talents and some eccentricities. 
From his youth his religious feelings were very 
strong, from the education of his pious grand- 
mother, and were afterwards deepened by the 
influence of his teacher, the celebrated Pro- 
fessor Franke, of Halle. On becoming ac- 
quainted with the Moravians, he adopted their 
religious doctrines and mode of worship, and 
became a preacher and finally a bishop among 
them. There was a family of ninety of these 
Christians living in a house at Marienborn, 
which he had provided for them. Here Wesley 
tarried two weeks, greatly edified by their con- 
versation, simplicity of Christian character, 
and especially by their cordial love for one 
another. 

In his further travels in Germany he was 
greatly annoyed by the police-regulations. At 



A TOUR IN GERMANY. 75 

one time, after being detained at the gate of the 
city a long time, he was conducted from one 
magistrate to another, with many impertinent 
questions, and was at last brought before the 
Prince Royal in the public square. The prince 
asked him, among many other questions, 
where he was going. "To Hernhuth," was 
the reply. 

"For what purpose," he again inquired. 

"To see the place where the Christians 
live,'' answered Wesley. The royal personage 
looked sternly at him, as if doubting whether 
any person would go so far for such a purpose, 
and let him proceed. This prince was after- 
wards the celebrated Frederick the Great, 
King of Prussia. 

On Tuesday, August 1, after a journey, 
mostly on foot, of a month and a half, through 
important portions of Germany, he arrived at 
Hernhuth, about thirty miles from Dresden. 
Here was the principal settlement of the Mo- 
ravians. It contained about one hundred 
houses, situated on a rising ground surrounded 
in part by evergreen woods and in part by 
well-cultivated fields and gardens. In the 
background were hills commanding a beautiful 
view of the vicinity. Directly through the 
village the highroad from Zittan to Lobau 
passed. The buildings were constructed and 
arranged in reference to economy, neatness 
and convenience. There was a commodious 
house set apart for strangers, in which Wesley 



76 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

and his companions were cordially entertained. 
The regulations of this truly pious people were 
very peculiar. But it was not their forms, but 
their Christian doctrines and character, which 
Wesley came to study. Their Christian en- 
terprise was in the spirit of the apostles. They 
commenced their settlement at Hernhuth a 
few years before Wesley's visit, and in fifty 
years their missionaries had lifted up the 
standard of the cross among the snows of 
Greenland and on the burning sands of Africa ; 
they had preached Christ on the banks of the 
Ganges and beside the waters of our own 
Ohio ; they had seen sinners converted in the 
extreme portions of South America and in the 
comfortless regions of Siberia. Their spirit at 
home well agreed with their zeal abroad. They 
were united, devout, and abounding in good 
works. Mr. Wesley heard several of their dis- 
tinguished preachers, and spent much of his 
time in hearing from the lips of the most deeply 
pious a recital" of their Christian experience. 
From the sermons, he was confirmed in his re- 
cently-adopted belief of salvation by faith 
alone, as the gift of God through Christ ; and 
from their experience (which agreed so well 
with the work which he had trusted God had 
recently wrought in his own heart) he was 
greatly strengthened. He also received many 
suggestions from their society-regulations, 
which, though he could have had no such pur 



A TOUR IN GERMANY. 77 

pose at the time, he made use of afterwards in 
organizing his own people. 

Being thus confirmed and made joyful in 
believing, he writes, "I would gladly have 
spent my life here ; but, my Master calling me 
to labour in another part of his vineyard, I 
was constrained to take my leave of this 
happy place. Oh, when shall this Christianity 
' cover the earth as the waters cover the sea!' 
I was exceedingly comforted and strengthened 
by the conversation of this lovely people, 
and returned to England more fully deter- 
mined to spend my life in testifying the gospel 
of the grace of God." 

He returned to England as he came, gene- 
rally travelling on foot, stopping only at Halle, 
to visit Professor Francke ; one day at the Uni- 
versity of Jena, and three days in the family 
of Count Zinzendorf, at Marienborn. He ar- 
rived in London the 17th of September, after 
an absence of three months. 

While John was in Germany, Charles Wes- 
ley was preaching faith in Christ as the only 
way of salvation. Though sometimes in dark- 
ness, he generally had peace and joy in believ- 
ing. His ardent temperament and zealous love 
for souls allowed him no rest. Though at times 
suffering acute pain from pleurisy, he recom- 
mended the love of the Saviour from the pul- 
pit and at the fireside on every possible occa- 
sion ; he exhorted sinners to come to Christ ; he 
7* 



78 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

spread the fervour of his spirit of love to God 
over every circle in which he moved. 

After an absence of three months, the bro- 
thers met in London on the evening of Sep- 
tember 16. During the clay Charles had 
been at the Newgate prison, trying to com- 
fort, with the offers of salvation, four con- 
victed felons who were soon to suffer the 
penalty of death. During the evening they 
compared their experiences. Charles had seen 
the commencement of a great work of God in 
and about London ; and John had seen an ex- 
hibition of the power of simple faith in Ger- 
many. Their brotherly affection was in- 
creased, and they encouraged each other to 
renewed labour for the salvation of men. 



fielD-pkeaching. 79 



CHAPTER IX. 

FIELD-PREACHING. 

In an important sense we may consider the 
Wesleys as just commencing their career as 
reformers. Their previous experience had 
been preparatory to the great labour of their 
lives. John Wesley was now thirty-five years 
of age, and Charles thirty. They were yet 
comparatively obscure individuals. Every step 
they advanced clearly shows that they had no 
thought of what God would do by their instru- 
mentality. 

Just at this point we must introduce more 
particularly a valued co-labourer, — George 
Whitefield. At this period they were of one 
heart and one work. About three years be- 
fore, Whitefield was toiling in much poverty 
through his college course at Oxford. To pay 
his expenses, he had consented to receive as- 
sistance from the charity fund of the college ; 
and, to meet the deficiency, had taken the 
humble position of a waiter upon the students. 
The Wesleys were still residing at Oxford, 
though his seniors in age and education. 
They had attained the distinction of " Metho- 
dic " and leaders of the "Holy Club." 



80 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Whitefield had known their fame, and inwardly 
longed to be admitted to their fellowship ; for 
his heart God had touched by his Spirit, and 
he was asking, " What shall I do to be saved?" 
His diffidence and humble position deterred 
him from introducing himself to them; but 
God opened his way to their society and confi- 
dence. A poor man had attempted to commit 
suicide; and Whitefield, knowing that the 
Wesleys were ever ready to assist the suffer- 
ing, requested an apple-woman to inform them 
of his case, but charged her not to mention his 
own name ; but the woman, with great simplicity, 
told Charles Wesley that George Whitefield 
had sent her with information concerning a suf- 
fering pauper. This led to a friendship, which, 
though disturbed by the controversies of after- 
years, continued strong through life. White- 
field had followed the Wesleys in their labours 
in America, with much better success ; and had 
returned to anticipate them a little in receiv- 
ing and preaching faith in Christ. Having re- 
ceived ordination at the hands of the excellent 
Bishop Benson, he commenced his wonderful 
ministry by preaching in his native place, 
Gloucester. He was but twenty-one years of 
age. He had been known as the boy of the 
village inn, for his widowed mother had been its 
proprietor from his childhood. Old and young 
flocked to hear him. They remembered not 
only his former poverty and obscurity, but his 
stirring school-declamations, by which the elo- 



FIELD-PREACHING. 81 

quence of the preacher had been foreshadowed. 
He preached with the power of an astonishing 
elocution and with the grace of an attractive 
manner ; but these were not the greatest ele- 
ments of his strength. He was clothed with 
divine unction. God had spoken to and melted 
his own heart. As he brought his sermon to 
a close, he exclaimed, " I would willingly go to 
prison and death for you, could I but bring 
one soul to Jesus Christ. Come, then, to 
Christ ; every one that hears me, come. For 
your immortal soul's sake, come!" arid his 
startling tones fell with amazing power upon 
his hearers. In the excitement which his ser- 
mon produced he was accused to the bishop 
of driving fifteen people mad. 

Such was Whitefield, as he stood forth as not 
the least remarkable of this remarkable trio 
of chosen instruments to arouse a slumbering 
nation. England w^as indeed more than in a 
; spiritual slumber. The houses of worship were 
• thinly attended. The ordinances were ne- 
glected and despised. The desecration of the 
i Sabbath was almost universal, by both minis 
i ters and people. The mass of the people 
could well say, "No man careth for my soul." 
I Here and there a faithful sentinel lifted up a 
! warning voice. A seed of faithful disciples 
! were left, among whom the ruling spirits of 
the parsonage at Epworth might be cited as 
J an example. This long-unnoticed seed was to 
spring forth with vigour. 



82 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY 

A very few sermons in the pulpit from the 
Wesleys and Whitefield sufficed, and they were 
everywhere told, "You must come here no 
more." They were too much in earnest, and 
the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, how- 
ever tenderly preached, contained too much of 
reproof, for the rich and the aristocratical, 
many of whom, being already the friends and 
defenders of the Established church, esteemed 
themselves righteous. "But the common peo- 
ple heard them gladly." A frequent reason 
given for closing the doors of the churches 
against them was that such crowds pressed into 
the church that the customary occupants were 
greatly incommoded. The ministers alleged, 
with reason, that the attendance upon the 
Lord's supper was so increased when they 
came that their labour was doubled. Finding 
themselves generally thus debarred from the 
churches, these reformers confined themselves 
for a short time to a peculiar sphere of labour. 
There had been in England, for many years, 
"societies," or meetings, in which the word of 
God was read and explained, religious exhor- 
tations given, and regular collections taken 
for the poor. The members were pledged to 
use the more public means of grace, especially 
the Lord's supper, and to aim at attaining a 
holy life. They were countenanced by the 
authorities of the church, and attendance upon 
them therefore was considered in no wise dis- 
orderly. It was at one of these societies, as 



FIELD-PREACHING. 83 

the reader will recollect, meeting at Aldersgate, 
in London, that John Wesley was so greatly 
awakened. 

In some of these the three co-labourers met 
almost daily, expounding the word and con- 
tinuing instant in singing and prayer. Portions 
of their time were spent in the prisons and in 
following the condemned criminals to the foot 
of the gallows with the pressing offers of the 
mercy of God through Christ. 

Whitefield's zealous spirit was the first to go 
beyond this narrow though useful sphere. He 
says that while preaching one Sunday at Ber- 
mondsey Church, "with great freedom in his 
heart and clearness in his voice," there were 
'a thousand people standing in the churchyard, 
•to catch, if possible, the sound of his voice, and 
r many went away unable to receive any of his 
instructions. "This," he adds, "put me first 
upon thinking of preaching without-doors. I 
mentioned it to some friends, who looked upon 
! it as a mad notion." Such were his feelings 
when on January 1, 1739, he met in a "love- 
feast" at Fetter-lane with John and Charles 
Wesley, Mr. Ingham, the old fellow-traveller 
rf the Wesleys, and about sixty others. "About 
three o'clock in the morning," says Mr. Wesley, 
u as we were continuing instant at prayer, the 
power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch 
;hat many cried out for exceeding joy, and 
nany fell to the ground. As soon as we were 
^covered a little from that awe and amaze- 



84 LIFE OP JOHN WESLEY. 

ment at the presence of his majesty, we broke 
out with one voice, 'We praise thee, God; 
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.'" "It 
was a pentecostal season indeed!" exclaimed 
Whitefield, as he went forth from this memorable 
watch-night to preach Christ at Bristol. Near 
this city was a tract of country called Kings- 
wood. It had been the king's hunting-ground; 
but the deer had long since disappeared, and 
portions of the ground were improved and oc- 
cupied. Coal-mines had been discovered, and 
in them at this period great numbers of men 
were employed. The people of the whole dis- 
trict spoke a peculiar dialect, and were noto- 
riously ignorant and wicked. There was no 
church among them ; and, if they had been dis- 
posed to walk between three and four miles to 
the nearest parish, they would have found 
neither room nor welcome. For these sheep 
of the wilderness without a shepherd White- 
field's religious sympathies were excited. On 
Saturday, February 17, 1739, he ascended a 
rising ground, and, lifting up his clear and 
musical voice, bade the people hear the word of 
God. No previous notice had been given ; but 
a few hundreds were attracted by this unpre- 
cedented occurrence. When he returned to 
Bristol, his superiors in the church reproved 
him for this, as they thought, disorderly pro- 
ceeding. He pleaded in his defence the exam- 
ple of Christ, the perishing condition of the 
souls at Kingswood, and the fact that the pul- 



FIELD-PREACHING. v 85 

pits were shut against him. He was told he must 
not continue this field-preaching. But, believ- 
ing that God approved it, he went to Moorfields 
again, and preached to two thousand, which 
, number, after a few visits, increased to twenty 
thousand. Multitudes of the rich and poor from 
. Bristol mingled with the blackened colliers. 
To the poor miners his appearance and his mes- 
; sage were alike astonishing. He had come to 
be their preacher, and had proclaimed to theni 
divine truths which had all the freshness of a 
■ new revelation from heaven. They w T ere at 
I first interested by the novelty of his preaching, 
' then melted and made penitent by its divine 
power, and many hundreds became finally true 
Christians. 

Leaving Whitefield amid the inspiring scenes 
of Kingswood, let us turn to his friends in 
London. Great excitement had been produced 
by the preaching of the Wesleys. Many un- 
favourable rumors were circulated concerning 
them ; among other complaints, the bishop was 
told that they "preached an absolute assurance 
of salvation." "We waited upon him," says 
Charles Wesley, "to answer the complaints he 
had heard against us." In the course of their 
conversation the bishop remarked, "If by as- 
surance you mean an inward persuasion, whereby 
a man is conscious in himself, after examining 
his life by the law of God and weighing his 
own sincerity, that he is in a state of salvation 
and accepted of God, I do not see how any 



86 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

good Christian can be without such an assu- 
rance. " "This," replied the Wesleys, "is 
what we contend for." They then expressed 
a hope that his lordship would not henceforth 
receive an accusation against a presbyter but 
at the mouth of two or three witnesses. The 
bishop replied, "No, by no means; and you 
may have free access to me at all times." 

Soon after they waited upon the archbishop, 
who, says Charles, "showed us great affection ; 
spoke mildly of Mr. Whitefield ; cautioned us 
to give no more umbrage than was necessary 
for our own defence, to forbear exceptionable 
phrases, to keep to the doctrines of the church, 
and assured us of his joy to see us as often as 
we pleased." But the clergy in less authority 
did not generally treat them so courteously. 
Charles Wesley had held a situation for a short 
time as an assistant to the minister of the 
church at Islington, by a private arrangement, 
the bishop's consent not having been obtained. 
The church-wardens, not liking either his doc- 
trines of salvation by faith nor the annoyance 
of the crowds which his preaching attracted, 
determined to take advantage of his want of 
the bishop's consent to be an assistant in the 
church to keep him away. Meeting him in 
the vestry, they demanded a sight of the 
bishop's license, which they knew he did not 
possess. He made but little reply, and pro- 
ceeded to his duties. On his next visit they 
proceeded to insulting accusations. They next 



FIELD-PREACHING. 87 

employed a man to push him from the pulpit- 
stairs should he attempt to ascend. Their 
servant not performing his wicked task with 
sufficient promptness, the church-wardens them- 
selves drove him from the place in the presence 
of the congregation. The church and the 
civil authorities countenanced the outrage, and 
Wesley retired from his relation to the parish 
to seek other fields of labour. 

Whitefield, having fairly embarked on his 
mission of offering salvation in the highways 
and hedges, began to make arrangements to , 
return to America. He had begun there a 
noble charity, called the Orphan-House. He 
had assumed a heavy pecuniary responsibility 
in its behalf, and he therefore everywhere 
laid its claims before the people to whom he 
preached. But how could he leave the people 
of Kingswood? He naturally turned to his 
friends, the Wesleys. They were at London. 
Charles had just returned from his rude repulse 
at Islington. John was expounding m the 
societies, visiting the abodes of poverty, and 
offering Christ to the inmates of the prisons. 
Such was the position of the three friends 
when Whitefield wrote to John Wesley to hasten 
to Bristol. The proposition was laid before 
the society at Fetter-lane. All were greatly 
perplexed. The brethren were divided in 
opinion, and disputed earnestly over the ques- 
tion. While the company were thus debating, 
Wesley had decided concerning the course of 



88 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

duty, and started for the new and ever-memo- 
rable battle field. The following Sabbath he 
listened to Whitefield's solemn appeals in the 
field. His prejudices against such a course 
were very strong. He says, "I could at first 
scarce reconcile myself to this strange way of 
preaching in the fields of which he set me an 
example on Sunday ; having been all my life, 
till very lately, so tenacious of every point re- 
lating to decency and order, that I should 
have thought the saving of souls almost a sin 
if it had not been done in a church. In the 
evening, (April 1, 1739,) Mr. Whitefield being 
gone, I began expounding our Lord's Sermon 
on the Mount to a little society that was accus- 
tomed to meet once or twice a week in Nicholas 
Street. At four in the afternoon of the follow- 
ing day I submitted to be more vile, and pro- 
claimed in the highways the glad tidings of 
salvation, speaking, from a little eminence in a 
ground adjoining the city, to about three thou- 
sand people. The Scripture on which I spake 
was this : — ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
because he hath anointed me to preach the 
gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal 
the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, 
to set at liberty them that are bruised, to pro- 
claim the acceptable year of the Lord. " ' On the 
following Sabbath he was proclaiming the word 
of life at Rosegreen, Kingswood, to five thou- 
sand people. For several successive weeks, 



FIELD-PREACHING. 89 

multitudes gathered around the hill-tops and 
thronged the valleys, to hear from his lips the 
words of divine truth. 

But we must not part with Whitefield from 
this place, where God had so greatly honoured 
him, without another hasty interview. When 
he had introduced Wesley to this self-denying 
labour, he had exclaimed, " Help him, Lord 
Jesus, to water what thy own right hand hath 
planted, for thy mercy's sake!" As he passed 
through Kingswood, to embark for America, 
many crowded around him, weeping, as for the 
departure of a beloved parent. They clung 
to him with unaffected fondness. Of their 
poverty they contributed freely to his Orphan- 
House in Georgia. At one place, to his sur- 
prise, he found an entertainment prepared for 
him. And these were the recently profane, 
wholly irreligious, and uncared-for colliers ! 
Now, with a peace and joy they never conceived 
before, they go forth to meet the minister as 
the cause, under God, of their translation from 
darkness to light! They proposed to show 
their gratitude by contributing towards a 
charity-school for their own children. Reli- 
gion had prompted a desire for knowledge. 
But many of them were too old, now, to learn 
much besides what was immediately necessary 
in order to be saved. They would have their 
children begin to lay a broader and deeper, 
foundation for the service of God. Whitefield 
preached to them a sermon on the subject, and 
8* 



90 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

laid a stone at random, as the beginning of the 
enterprise, — for the site was not yet selected. 
Thus honoured and rejoicing, he hastened to 
London. On his way, he tarried a short time 
at his native town, Gloucester, and was per- 
mitted to occupy the pulpit. The grateful re- 
collections of the past gave a gushing emotion 
to his religious feelings. He broke away 
from the prescribed forms of the service, and 
poured forth his whole soul in a torrent of irre- 
sistible eloquence. The people were subdued 
under its power. But those in authority said, 
" This is disorder ; and you must preach here 
no more. ,, He next paused in his journey at 
Oxford ; but many spake bitter things against 
him. The " offence of the cross" had not 
ceased at this seat of learning. We next find 
him at Islington, where Charles Wesley had 
been driven from the pulpit by the church- 
wardens. The minister invited Whitefield to 
preach; but his wardens, having been sus- 
tained in their previous course by higher 
authority, posted themselves at the pulpit- 
stairs to guard it against his approach. After 
the reading of the prayers at the desk, White- 
field, seeing the threatened war, quietly retired 
to the churchyard, the whole congregation fol- 
lowing him, and preached without interruption 
from a tombstone. 

Thus annoyed in, or shut from the pulpits, 
and emboldened by the success God had given 
him at Kingswood, he determined to resort to 






FIELD-PREACHING. 91 

the fields and commons in London and vicinity. 
There was near this city a tract of country 
called Moorfields. It was, at an earlier 
period, an impassable marsh; but, by drain- 
ing, had been improved as gardens, in part, 
and brick-kilns, and was at this time given up 
as a ground of public and almost lawless 
amusement. Here congregated wrestlers, box- 
ers, the idle and dissolute. Preaching at 
Moorfields was what Whitefield esteemed an 
I attack upon the citadel of the devil ; and at- 
j tacking the strongholds suited his bold spirit 
j better than skirmishing. His friends ex- 

• pressed many fears for his safety; but to 
Moorfields he set forth. It was Sunday, and 

j the immense throng were under a little more 
j restraint than on a week-day. Notice had 
been given of his intention, and the rush to- 
wards him was so great that he was separated 
from Hhe friends who accompanied him, and 
the table for his stand — which they were at- 
tempting to carry — was thrown to the ground, 
; broken and trampled under feet. Whitefield 

• boldly pressed forward and gained a wall 
j which divided the ground. From this he 

poured forth his earnest words. The turbu- 
lent multitudes became still. Of the twenty 

\ thousand human beings within the sound of his 
voice not one reproached or opposed him. 
In the afternoon of the same day he 

\ preached on Kennington Common to the 
fashionable, the gay, the pleasure-seeking 



92 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

crowds which ever throng this popular park. 
He took his stand also, at times, in Black- 
heath, another public place of promenade. 
But Moorfields was his favourite pulpit. At 
one time he proclaimed the word of life from 
its wall to thirty thousand people. In all these 
congregations collections were taken for his 
Orphan-House. At one time $300 in amount 
was contributed, $100 of which was in half- 
pence, making a weight greater than one man 
could carry. 

From these exciting and glorious scenes of 
the triumphs of God's work, he embarked for 
Georgia, in mid-summer, (August, 1739,) con- 
signing the care of Kingswood, Moojfields, 
Kennington Common, and Blackheath, to his 
bosom friends, John and Charles Wesley. 

Having fully introduced two of our Chris- 
tian heroes to the reader as field-preachers, let 
us turn for a moment to Charles Wesley. 
Soon after his exclusion from Islington, he 
had been dismissed with anger from the pre- 
sence of the Primate of England, forbidden the 
pulpit of a beloted friend, and had been in 
great "heaviness" through these many con- 
flicts. Having gone to a small village, forty 
miles from London, to visit a sister, such num- 
bers pressed into the church when he preached, 
that he was invited by a farmer to occupy his 
field. This he did, stimulated by the example 
of his brother and of Whitefield. On re- 
turning to London, he ventured at once into 



FIELD-PREACHING. 93 

the midst of the masses of Moorfields, Ken- 
nington Common, and Blackheath. 

The work of field-preaching being now fairly 
begun, the prejudices of the Wesley s against so 
daring an innovation upon established rule 
yielded to the evident sanction of God, 



94 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY, 



CHAPTER X. 

SOME OF THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF FIELD- 
PREACHING. 

In the summer of 1739, the Wesleys ex- 
changed fields of labour, — John returning to 
London, and his brother taking charge of the 
work at Bristol. Charles, on his way to the 
latter place, preached in the principal towns 
on his road,— generally in the highways, but 
always first requesting the privilege of oc- 
cupying the pulpit. To one such application 
quite a curt message was returned, and some- 
what illustrative of the character of many of 
the clergyman of the times. " I should be 
glad," said the minister, "to have Mr. Wes- 
ley call and drink a glass of wine with me, 
but I durst not lend him my pulpit for fifty 
guineas." 

"Mr. Whitefield" (a brother to George 
Whitefield) "durst lend me his field," adds 
Wesley, "which did just as well; for an hour 
and a half God gave me a voice and strength 
to exhort about two thousand sinners to repent 
and believe the gospel." 

Charles Wesley's appearance and labours at 
Bristol at this period are thus described by an 



SOME EFFECTS OF FIELD-PREACHING. 95 

eminent dissenting clergyman of Kiddermin- 
ster. It is extracted from a letter published 
at the time in the " Gentleman's Magazine:" — 
" Hearing that Mr. Charles Wesley would 
preach in the afternoon, just out of the city, I 
got a guide and went to hear him. I found 
; him standing upon a table in an erect posture, 
with his hands and eyes lifted up to heaven in 
prayer, surrounded with, I guess, more than a 
thousand people ; some few of them persons of 
fashion, both men and women, but the most of 
them of the lower rank of mankind. I know 
mot how long he had been engaged in the duty 
before I came, but he continued therein after 
my coming scarcely a quarter of an hour; 
during which time he prayed with uncommon 
fervency, fluency, and variety of proper ex- 
pression. He then preached about an hour 
from 2 Cor. v. 17-21 — 'If any man be in 
'Christ, he is a new creature/ etc. — in such a 
manner as I have seldom, if ever, heard any 
ninister preach ; that is, though I have heard 
imany a finer sermon, according to the com- 
mon taste, yet I have scarcely ever heard any 
1 minister discover such evident signs of a most 
^vehement desire, or labour so earnestly to con- 
Ifince his hearers that they were all by nature 
jin a state of enmity against God, conse- 
quently, in a damnable state, and needed re- 
I ponciliation with God ; that God is willing to 
Ipe reconciled to all, even the worst of sinners, 
'tad for that end hath laid all our sin on 



96 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Christ, and Christ hath borne the punishment 
due to our sins in our nature and stead. * * * 
These points he supported all along as he went 
on with many texts of Scripture, which he 
illustrated and explained, and then freely in- 
vited all, even the chief of sinners, and used a 
great variety of the most moving arguments 
and expostulations, in order to persuade, allure, 
instigate, and, if possible, compel all to come to 
Christ and believe in him for pardon and sal- 
vation. Nor did he fail to inform them tho- 
roughly how ineffectual their faith would be to 
justify them in the sight of God unless it 
wrought by love, purified their hearts, and re- 
formed their lives; for, thoi/gh he cautioned 
them with the utmost care not to attribute any 
merit to their own performances, nor in the 
least to rest upon any works of their own, yet, 
at the same time, he apprised them that their 
faith is but a dead faith if it be not operative 
and productive of good works, even all the 
good in their power. 

"Afterwards I went with Mr. Wesley to a 
religious society which met in the evening. I 
found the place so thronged that it was with 
very great difficulty we got to the centre of it, 
where was a convenient place provided for him 
either to stand or sit. When we came to the 
place they were singing a hymn, but ceased on 
Mr. Wesley's mounting the rostrum. He first 
prayed ; then expounded a j)art of St. John's 
Gospel; then sung a hymn; then proceeded 



SOME EFFECTS OF FIELD-PREACHING. 97 

awhile with the exposition ; then, after again 
singing, prayed over more than twenty written 
requests, which were sent to him by the so- 
ciety, respecting their spiritual concerns, and 
concluded with the usual benediction. Never 
did I hear such praying or such singing — 
never did I see and hear such evident marks 
of fervency of spirit in the service of God — 
as in that society. At the close of every sin- 
gle petition a serious Amen — like the rushing 
sound of waters — ran through the whole so- 
ciety ; and their singing was not. only the most 
harmonious and delightful I ever heard, but, as 
Whitefield writes in his journal, 'they sang 
lustily and with good courage.' I never so 
well understood that expression before. In- 
deed, they seemed to sing with melody in their 
hearts. If there be any such thing as heavenly 
music on earth, I heard it there. As for my 
own part, I do not remember my heart to have 
been so elevated in prayer and praise, either 
in collegiate, parochial, or private worship, as 
it was there and then." 

During this year (1739) a place of worship 
was built in Bristol for these scattered sheep, 
under the direction of John Wesley. As it 
was the first chapel erected under his influence, 
we present the reader with the circumstances 
by which he was led to this kind of labour, 
which subsequently constituted so large a part 
of his public duty. He says: — ■" We took pos- 
session of a piece of ground near St. James's 
9 



98 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Churchyard, in the Horse-fair, where it was 
designed to build a room large enough to con- 
tain both the societies of Nicolas and Baldwin 
Streets, and such of their friends as might 
desire to be present with them at such times as 
the Scriptures were expounded. The first stone 
was laid with the voice of praise and thanks- 
giving. 

" I had not at first the least apprehension or 
design to be personally engaged either in the 
expense of this work or the direction of it; 
having appointed eleven trustees, on whom I 
supposed these burdens would fall of course. 
But I quickly found my mistake: first, with 
regard to the expense ; for the whole under- 
taking must have stood still, had I not imme- 
diately taken upon myself the payment of all 
the workmen, so that, before I knew where I 
was, I had contracted a debt of more than 
seven hundred and fifty dollars. And this I 
was to discharge how I could, the subscriptions 
of both societies not amounting to one-quarter 
of that sum. As to the direction of the work, 
I presently received letters from my friends in 
London, Mr. Whitefield in particular, backed 
by a message of a person just come from thence, 
6 that neither he nor they would have any thing 
to do with the building, neither contribute any 
thing towards it, unless I would instantly dis- 
charge all trustees and do every thing in my 
own name.' Many reasons they gave for this, 
but one was enough, — viz : c That such trustees 



SOME EFFECTS OF FIELD-PREACHING. 99 

would always have it in their power to control 
me, and, if I preached not as they liked, to turn 
me out of the room I had built.' I accordingly 
yielded to their advice, and, calling all the trus- 
tees together, cancelled (no man opposing) the 
instrument made before, and took the whole 
management into my own hands. Money, it 
is true, I had not, nor any human prospect of 
obtaining it. But I knew 'the earth is the 
Lord's and the fulness thereof,' and in his name 
-Bet out, nothing doubting." 

Towards the close of the same year he 
makes the following record concerning the 
school for the Kingswood children, in reference 
to a building for which Whitefield had preached 
in the spring and laid a stone at random, in 
full confidence that the enterprise would be 
completed : — 

" That the children of these converts might 
know the things which make for their peace, 
it was some time since proposed to build a house 
in Kingswood ; and, after many unforeseen diffi- 
culties, in June last the foundation was laid. 
The ground made choice of was in the middle 
of the wood between the London and Bath 
Roads, not far from that called Two-Mile Hill, 
three miles from Bristol. Here a large room 
was begun for the school, having four small 
rooms at either end, for the schoolmaster, and 
perhaps, if it should please God, serve poor 
children to lodge in. Two persons are ready 
to teach so soon as the house is fit to receive 



100 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

them, the shell of which is nearly finished ; so 
that it is hoped the whole will be completed in 
the spring or early in the summer. It is true, 
although the masters require no pay, yet this 
undertaking is attended with great expense. 
But let Him that feedeth the young ravens see 
to that." 

The providence of God did watch over this 
noble work of instructing ignorant children. 
The house was completed, and from this school 
grew one of the most prominent seminaries of 
the Wesleyan connection, which continues to 
the present day. 

Here then was a church and a school-house 
as a part of the immediate fruit of the field- 
preaching of these faithful men. The following 
incident connected with Charles Wesley's 
preaching at this period in Kingswood will 
illustrate the strong hold that his labours had 
given him upon the affections of the rude and 
but recently wicked colliers. He had just re- 
covered from a prostrating sickness brought 
on by his intense exertions for their good. He 
gives the following account of an incident 
which occurred while he was riding out one 
morning: — " At the end of the town I was told 
the colliers were risen, [that is, in a mob or 
riot.] Above a thousand of them I met at 
Laurence Hill. They came about me and 
saluted me very affectionately, not having seen 
me since my illness. The occasion of their 
rising, they told me, was the dearness of corn. 



SOME EFFECTS OF FIELD-PREACHING. 101 

I got to an eminence and began speaking to 

them. Many seemed inclined to go back with 

me to the school ; but the devil stirred up his 

oldest servants, who violently rushed upon the 

others, beating and tearing and driving them 

away from me, I rode up to a ruffian who 

was striking one of our colliers, and prayed 

him rather to strike me. He would not, he 

said, for all the world, and was quite overcome. 

I turned upon one who struck my horse, and 

he also sunk into a lamb. The few violent 

colliers forced on the more quiet ones into the 

town. I seized one of the tallest and earnestly 

besought him to follow me : that he would, he 

said, the world over. About six more I pressed 

into Christ's service. We met several parties, 

stopped, and exhorted them to join us. We 

1 gleaned a few from every company, and grew 

as we marched along singing to the school. 

From one till three we spent in prayer that 

\ evil might be prevented and the lion chained. 

Then news was brought us that the colliers 

were returned in peace. They had quietly 

I walked into the city without sticks or violence. 

All who saw were amazed, for the leopards 

were laid down. Nothing could have more 

^ shown the change wrought in them than this 

J rising. I found afterwards that all our colliers 

I to a man had been forced into it. Having 

\ learned of Christ not to resist evil, they went 

j a mile with those who compelled them, rather 

than free themselves by violence." While the 

9* 



102 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

work was thus manifesting rich fruit in Bristol 
and Kingswood, John Wesley extended his 
travels to Wales, where Howell Harris, a native 
preacher, had already awakened deep religious 
feeling. Whitefield had also preceded him 
here, and opened the way to the highways and 
hedges, for the people rushed in masses to hear 
the word of life. Everywhere the Holy Spirit 
wrought with the word, and many hundreds 
were, to all human appearance, converted to 
God. 

As the circuit of these earnest men became 
extended, the opposition to their mode of pro- 
ceeding increased. Some of the readers of 
these pages may need to be reminded that for 
the most part England is divided into parishes, 
over which a clergyman is placed by the civil 
government, while in the United States all Ojur 
religious societies are established by the volun- 
tary exertions of those who wish to do good. 
These English ministers in Wesley's time 
looked upon the labours of any other person 
in their parishes as an intrusion; yet very 
many of them, not being converted themselves, 
could not feel deeply interested for the con- 
version of others. Wesley was therefore fre- 
quently called upon to give his reasons for 
having no particular parish of his own, and for 
thus itinerating and preaching in the fields 
through all the parishes. This he did in the 
following language : — 



SOME EFFECTS OF FIELD-PREACHING. 103 

"Suffer me now to tell you my principles 
in this matter. I look upon all the world as 
my parish, — thus far, I mean, that, in whatever 
part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and 
my bounden duty, to declare unto all who are 
willing to hear the glad tidings of salvation. 
This is the work which I know God has called 
me to. And sure I am that his blessing attends 
it. Great encouragement have I therefore to 
be faithful in fulfilling the work he hath given 
me to do. His servant I am, and as such am 
employed according to the plain direction of 
his word: — 'As I have opportunity, doing good 
unto all men.' 

"When I was told I could preach no more 
in this, and this, and another church, so much 
the more those who could not hear me there 
flocked together when I was at any of the so- 
cieties, where I spoke more or less, though with 
much inconvenience, to as many as the room I 
was in could contain. But after a time, finding 
that rooms would not contain a tenth part of 
the people that were earnest to hear, I deter- 
mined to do the same in England as I had done 
in a warmer climate ; namely, when the house 
would not contain the congregation, to preach 
in the open air." 

"Field-preaching was therefore a sudden 
expedient, a thing submitted to rather than 
chosen, and therefore submitted to because I 
thought preaching even thus better than not 



104 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

preaching at all : — first, in regard to rny own 
soul, because, a dispensation of the gospel being 
committed to me, I did not dare not to preach 
the gospel ; secondly, in regard to the souls of 
others, whom I everywhere saw ' seeking death 
in the error of their life.' " 

While Wesley thus paused to answer his ac- 
cusers, the Holy Spirit wrought with the word, 
and many hundreds of souls were in the judg- 
ment of charity converted to God. .Some, 
when under conviction for sin, or in the abun- 
dant joy of the new birth, were thrown into ex- 
traordinary bodily exercises, or cried out with 
a loud and confused noise. Having occasion to 
reprove the extravagance and visionary senti- 
ments adopted by some of his societies, he re- 
marks that they were not to judge of a genuine 
work of grace by feelings, — " No, nor by any 
dreams, visions, or revelations supposed to be 
made to their souls, any more than by their 
tears or any involuntary effects wrought upon 
their bodies. I warned them that all these 
things were of a doubtful and disputable nature, 
and were to be tried by a further rule to be 
brought to the only sure test, — the law and the 
testimony." 

Thus far we see the word both life-giving 
and powerful in producing holy fruit among 
the masses of the poor and the neglected. If 
there had been some tares among the w T heat, 
and human weakness amid divine power, the 



SOME EFFECTS OF FIELD-PREACHING. 105 

general character of the work was abundantly 

i vindicated, as the gospel to the poor and as 

the power of God in the weak to confound the 

mighty. But we shall see that though not 

^"many," yet some noble are called. 



106 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER XL 

NOBLE WOMEN. 

If the Wesleys and Whitefield were emi- 
nently fitted to offer salvation through the 
gospel to the neglected, the poor and the igno- 
rant, they were also well qualified to preach 
Christ to the rich and noble. They were edu- 
cated and gifted. Their manners were court- 
eous and refined. The influence of the Holy 
Spirit rested so richly upon their hearts that 
the fear of man was taken away, and they 
spoke plain words in high places to ears ac- 
customed to flattery. 

Said the proud Duchess of Buckingham, 
after hearing them preach, "Their doctrines 
are most repulsive, and strongly tinctured with 
impertinence and disrespect towards their supe- 
riors. It is monstrous to be told we have a 
heart as sinful as the common wretches that 
crawl the earth.' ' 

The Countess of Suffolk, the celebrated 
court beauty of her day, once heard Whitefield 
at the palace of a noble friend. When the 
preacher had finished and retired, she indulged 
in a violent gush of angry feeling, declaring 
the sermon was a deliberate attack upon her, 



NOBLE WOMEN. 107 

and accused her friends of exposing her foibles 
and sins to the preacher. She was with diffi- 
culty convinced of the contrary, and would 
never forgive the faithfulness of the servant of 
God. 

Among the noblemen who heard these stir- 
ring sermons were the Dukes of Cumberland 
and Bolton, and Lords Lonsdale and Hervey. 
Even the Prince of Wales listened occasionally 
\ to their earnest appeals. Among those of this 
class who heard their words gladly were Lord 
St. John, half-brother to the skeptic Boling- 
; broke, Lord Dartmouth, a member of the 
j Privy Council and Lord-Steward of the King's 
Household. These both witnessed a good con- 
* fession amid much reproach and ridicule, and 
, died in the hope of the gospel. But it was 
:' among the women of the circles of the rich and 
noble that their preaching won its brightest 
trophies. We will present a few among many 
.distinguished examples, to illustrate both the 
character of the preaching and the revival of 
this period. We shall anticipate in part the 
immediate thread of our narrative ; but the fol- 
lowing examples have an intimate connection 
with the commencement of field-preaching. 

Some time near 1739 or '40, Mr. Ingham, 
[j the former pupil and fellow-missionary of John 
Wesley, was preaching through Yorkshire with 
great effect, wherever he could collect an audi- 
ence, whether in the pulpit or field. Among 
those who heard him and were profited was 



108 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Lady Margaret Hastings, sister of Lord Hun- 
tingdon. She became a Christian of singular 
piety and usefulness, and subsequently the wife 
of Mr. Ingham. Soon after she found peace 
in believing, she visited her brother. Lady 
Huntingdon had already been disposed by the 
Holy Spirit to seek Christ, but she was seeking 
life in the darkness which had so long encom- 
passed the Wesleys. She knew not the way 
of faith, and consequently the way she trod 
was comfortless. Conversing with Lady Mar- 
garet on one occasion, Lady Huntingdon was 
surprised to hear her say, speaking of personal 
experience in religion, "that since she had 
known and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ 
for life and salvation, she had been as happy 
as an angel/ ' The words made a deep im- 
pression. So great was her conviction for sin 
that she became indisposed in body. She 
sought Christ earnestly. She "agonized to 
enter into the strait gate;" and soon the bit- 
terness of unpardoned sin was exchanged for 
"joy unspeakable and full of glory." The 
change in her ladyship was apparent to all ; nor 
did she attempt to hide her light, but openly 
confessed Christ. She rapidly recovered her 
bodily health, and went forth into the circle of 
the proud nobility, humbly and boldly setting 
forth Christ as "the riches of the world." 
Her doctrine and spirit greatly disgusted the 
devotees of fashion and pleasure, for such were 
most of her friends, and they desired Lord 



NOBLE WOMEN. 109 

Huntingdon to interpose his authority to stop 
this dangerous taint of Methodism in the very 
palaces of nobility ; for all earnest piety was 
at this time stigmatized by this contemptuous 
name. But her husband highly respected his 
wife, though he did not sympathize with her 
religious feelings. He courteously gave her 
f the largest liberty in carrying out her religious 
r convictions. 

One of the most important steps taken by 
Lady Huntingdon after her conversion was to 
i open a correspondence with John and Charles 
'\n Wesley. She became a warm admirer of their 
preaching and a constant attendant upon the 
i meetings of the "societies." Lord Hunting- 
j don dying soon after, and her oldest son being 
yet a child, she was left in the entire manage- 
i 1 ment of her estates. Her house was opened 
| for the preaching of the Wesleys, Whitefield, 
i ( and kindred spirits, to which flocked the noblest 
ji in name and position in England. Thus com- 
menced the religious life of one of the greatest 
y and most pious women of her own or any age. 
iJ Thus commenced her labours for Christ, which 
! were continued for more than fifty years, by 
• the consecration to him of her superior talents, 
U wealth and position, in building chapels, in edu- 
J eating ministers, in strengthening the weak 
and in stimulating the strong in high and low 
places, and especially in letting the light of a 
holy example shine in every circle. An im- 
portant religious connection acknowledged her 



110 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

as its head and director. We find the Wesleys 
for more than thirty years exchanging with 
her frequent letters of mutual counsel and 
friendship, preaching in her mansions and 
chapels, sitting at her hospitable table, bearing 
a common reproach, and defending a common 
faith. 

While this noble lady was bearing the cross 
of Christ in her exalted sphere, there was in 
the obscure town of Laytonstone one who at a 
later period had come under the influence of 
the field-preaching. Her nobility was intellec- 
tual and moral only, though belonging to a 
respected and wealthy family. She had re- 
ceived the gospel in its power from the preachers 
of Mr. Wesley's order, and immediately sought 
him as her father in the gospel. Her name 
was Bosanquet, late in life the distinguished 
wife and widow of John Fletcher. Desiring 
earnestly to do good, Miss Bosanquet, at twenty- 
three years of age, took a house in Layton- 
stone, in company with a female friend as a 
hired assistant. Here she established on her 
own resources what might be termed an or- 
phans' home. At this place, and subsequently 
in Yorkshire, she devoted a large fortune to 
this noble purpose. Amid reproaches and 
pecuniary difficulties, for twenty-five years she 
persevered, effecting an amount of good which 
eternity only can reveal. 

Lady Glenorchy, another co-labourer of the 
Wesleys and Whitefield, belonged to the Scotch 



NOBLE WOMEN. Ill 

nobility, and was the Lady Huntingdon of her 
country. She was largely indebted in spiritual 
things to the latter lady. Her biographer 
says: — "Though fitted to shine in courts, she 
resolved, in her twenty-third year, to. choose 
Christ rather than the pleasures of the world. 
Her desire to be the instrument of doing good in 
the world led her to devote the whole of her 
life to plans of beneficence and her whole for- 
tune to their execution. The institutions which 
remain to this day show that her views of use- 
fulness had been by her extended beyond her 
abode upon earth. But what perhaps forms 
the most striking feature in her character is 
the proof she has given of the efficacy of true 
religion to resist the mighty snares and temp- 
tations of high rank, of great fortune, and 
powerful worldly influence and friends. No one 
of these, nor all of them combined, although 
employed with all their subtlety and all their 
powers, ever shook her fidelity to God and re- 
ligion ; and it is a proof to those in high life 
what may be done for the cause of Christ, if 
there be integrity, in the midst of the most un- 
favourable circumstances." 

This noble lady's labours for Christ consisted 
in building chapels from her private funds, 
paying in whole or in part the salaries of 
ministers to the poor and neglected, clothing 
and educating destitute children, and defending 
against cavilling courtiers, formal ministers, and 
lukewarm Christians, a spiritual Christianity. 



112 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

There was among the Scottish nobility a dis- 
tinguished friend of Lady Glenorchy. She 
possessed a nobility of nature as well as birth. 
This was Darcy, Lady Maxwell. Her heart 
had been prepared for the converting grace of 
God by the early loss of her much-loved hus- 
band, Sir Walter Maxwell. The labours of 
John Wesley were then blessed to the establish- 
ing of her faith in Christ. She became a 
member of his society in Edinburgh, and bore 
with him and kindred spirits "the offence of 
the cross." Desiring to let her light shine, 
she became actively engaged for the salvation 
of souls in that city. Her attention was first 
directed to the children of the poor. She 
established a school for them on the most in- 
telligent and permanent basis. She arranged 
a regular course of study, appointed teachers 
of tried piety as well as thorough education, 
and carefully and frequently examined the 
scholars in their religious and mental progress. 
This school she permanently endowed; and it 
is consequently in successful operation at the 
present time among the poor in the metropolis 
of Scotland. 

Her country residence was situated among 
a very wicked and much-neglected community. 
She immediately invited them to her own man- 
sion to hear the word of life. Here the Wes- 
leys, Whitefield, the co-labourers of Lady Hun 
tingdon and Glenorchy, and the pious minis- 
ters of every name, preached the word of life. 



NOBLE WOMEN. 113 

We have thus given a few illustrations of 
the power of the gospel as exhibited in the 
conversion and lives of " honourable women." 
Many more might be selected. We might 
exhibit many examples of equally sound con- 
versions from among the poor. But that 
would not be so remarkable, nor does it seem 
to show so strikingly the great power of God. 
We would have our narrative teach that the 
rich and the poor may meet together in the 
provisions of the gospel and become "one in 
Christ." 



114 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER XII. 

FOLDS FOR THE LAMBS. 

We left John and Charles Wesley itinerating 
about London and Bristol; Whitefield had just 
before (August, 1739) embarked for America. 
Unhappy contentions had arisen in the Mora- 
vian Society at Fetter-lane, London. To this 
company of believers the Wesleys were much 
attached, for they had been to them friends in 
adversity. Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon 
had worshipped there with profit. But unscrip- 
tural sentiments began to be entertained by 
them. Molther, one of their German teachers, 
taught that to attain salvation we must be still ; 
that to use the means of grace without faith 
was a sin, and that when we had faith, the 
means of grace — such as the sacraments and 
social prayer — were unnecessary and wrong, 
because it was working for salvation. They 
therefore insisted on stillness only, while un- 
fortunately they possessed a very unquiet 
spirit. Wesley bore long with them, and 
laboured much for peace. Peter Bohler, his 
old teacher in the gospel, coming to England 
just at that time, lent his powerful influence to 
correct the error. All availed little, and in 



FOLDS FOR THE LAMBS. 115 

June, 1740, Wesley and those opposed to the 
"quietism" withdrew. The error did not very 
extensively prevail among the converts of the 
times, nor in the Moravian church. 

In anticipation of a necessity of a separate 
place of worship, Wesley had rented an old 
cannon-foundry situated in the middle of 
Moorfields. It was a dilapidated brick build- 
ing. The money necessary to rent and to 
repair it had been kindly advanced by two 
gentlemen personally unknown to him. Thus 
provided, the house was repaired and dedicated, 
amid joy more heart-felt than costly temples 
generally inspire. Here for many years the 
gospel was preached with great success. The 
foundry became a famous house in the early 
history of Methodism. 

Just after its erection a few serious persons 
came to Wesley to be instructed in religious 
things. The young converts also needed to be 
guided and guarded. The number of such in- 
creased rapidly. Wesley's desire to do them 
good forbade his turning them away, but it 
was impossible for him or his brother to attend 
personally to the care of these souls. What 
could be done ? He was much perplexed; but, 
with his usual self-possession, he waited to see 
the suggestions of God's providence. Being at 
one time at Bristol, in consultation with some 
prominent members of the society, much solici- 
tude was expressed concerning their money in- 
terests. They were embarrassed with debt for 



116 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

their place of worship and general expenses. 
One suggested that the members be divided 
into companies of ten or twelve, and a person 
appointed to be at the head of each company; 
that each member pay to his leader a penny a 
week, and that they should have weekly meet- 
ings for that purpose. " Or," continued the sug- 
gestor, " if some cannot pay so much, others can 
pay more, and a penny a week may be col- 
lected." "That will do," said Wesley, deci- 
dedly, as if his mind were anticipating a good 
greater than the mere collecting of money. 

The plan worked well. When the classes 
met and had paid their weekly pledge, they re- 
mained to pray and encourage each other in 
the divine life. This at once suggested to the 
observing mind of Wesley the means of sup- 
plying the minister's lack of service at the 
foundry and in the other societies. They 
were divided, as in the Bristol arrangement, 
into classes of about twelve each. A leader from 
among the most intelligent and experienced in 
piety was placed over them. They met weekly 
to relate their Christian experience, to pray, and 
to receive such instruction as the leader was 
able to give. 

Wherever the Wesleys preached, the people 
looked to John to direct and counsel them. 
Every thing in the history seems to indicate 
that he had no preconceived plan. of being the 
head of a new religious body. His superior 
learning, ability, age and piety, in connection 



NOBLE WOMEN. 117 

with the uninstructed condition of most of the 
converts, caused them naturally to consider 
him as their head. He took the guidance of 
them therefore as a duty he owed to the Great 
Shepherd and to his flock. 

Wesley selected and appointed the leaders 
to be thus his under-shepherds. He also drew 
( : up a few simple rules for the government of 
the societies. The only condition of admission 
•was "a desire to flee from the wrath to come." 
A continuance of membership was on the con- 
dition of manifesting this desire by — first, a 
strict moral life, and, secondly, by seeking after 
a saving faith in Christ, in the use of all the 
means of grace. These rules "enjoined no 
peculiar opinions, and related entirely to moral 
conduct, to charitable offices, and to the obser- 
vance of the ordinances of God. Churchmen 
. or Dissenters, walking by these rules, might be- 
come and remain members of these societies, 
provided they held their doctrinal views and 
disciplinary prepossessions in peace and love." 
At first Wesley met these separate classes in 
turn ; but as their number multiplied this became 
impracticable. To supply as far as possible a 
pastor's lack of service, he met the leaders 
j often, instructing and counselling them, and 
I appointed a united meeting of the classes 
quarterly, in which all might receive his in- 
, structions and admonitions. At these quarterly 
j visitations, to those whose attendance and 
general conduct gave evidence of a sincere de- 



118 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

sire to live a holy life, he gave a ticket in- 
scribed with his name and containing also b] 
verse of Scripture. Those who were denied 
these tickets were no longer permitted tc 
remain members. The tickets were letters of 
introduction to any other society under Wes- 
ley's care. Such was the origin of "the 
classes," the "quarterly meetings/' and the 
"love-feast tickets," in later times so charac- 
teristic of Wesleyan Methodism. 

In this government of the societies Charles* 
Wesley deferred to his brother, but in mutual ' 
confidence exercised with him a large authority. 
At this time they saw eye to eye ; and to the I 
end of their lives, united in unabated affection, 
they sought the same end, the salvation of men. 

Whitefield early in his field-preaching had 
erected a rude, temporary, but very capacious, 
building in Moorfields, which he named The 
Tabernacle. Some others were built under his 
directions by those awakened under his power- 
ful ministry, and the societies which met in 
them acknowledged him as their guide and 
ruler. But the management of the internal 
affairs of these religious societies did not suit 
either his talents or habits. His temperament 
was too ardent and his itinerating too exten- 
sive. He was now in England, and then sud- 
denly flying away to America. One "con- 
nection" could not bind him, nor one continent 
satisfy his abounding zeal. He yielded there- 
fore, in a great measure, the work of organizing 



NOBLE WOMEN. 119 

the societies to other hands having greater gifts 
for the work, while as a popular preacher he re- 
mained without an equal. 

Mr. Ingham, to whose success as a field- 
preacher we have referred, was for a time very 
successful in establishing well-regulated socie- 
ties. We have no means of ascertaining their 
precise form of discipline ; but they were under 
his general superintendence. In the height of 
his popularity they numbered eighty. But so 
many unworthy persons became connected with 
these societies that the discipline proved in- 
effectual, and the eighty societies were reduced 
to thirteen. 

\\\ But Lady Huntingdon, next to John Wesley, 
was best fitted by nature and divine grace to 
be an overseer of those whom God brought into 
his kingdom by her instrumentality. No doubt 
her social position and wealth aided her in this 
important work. Possessing a mind of marked 
strength and penetration, and a position as a 
member of a distinguished family of the no- 
bility which gave her great influence, and 
especially being deeply devoted to the work of 
saving souls, she was consequently sought as 
hm adviser in giving direction to the revival 
which had commenced. As in the case of 
Wesley, she exerted the authority of character. 
iff she governed, it was not obtrusively. In 
[moulding the disciplinary character of her con- 
nection, she exercised a moral, not a legal, 
authority. For many years the numerous 



h 



120 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

chapels which she either built or aided by her 
generous donations were supplied by her, as 
"a peeress of the realm," with clergymen \ 
regularly ordained in the church of England. 
This proceeding had always been considered 
not quite " regular," and, towards the close of 
her long life, was decided in the ecclesiastical 
courts to be illegal. But, by putting these 
places of worship in the legal relations of the 
chapels of dissenters from the Established \ 
church, and the ministers withdrawing from 
that church, Lady Huntingdon could proceed 
as she had done. This step was taken. Her 
students from that time received an ordination 
not episcopal, and her societies became a dis- 
tinct denomination. In answer to the inquiry 
of what church they were, one of her distin- 
guished ministers and trustees remarks, "We 
desire to be esteemed members of Christ's 
catholic and apostolic church, and essentially 
one with the church of England, of which we 
regard ourselves as living members. And 
though, as the church of England is now 
governed, we are driven to modes of ordaining 
ministers and maintaining societies not amena- 
ble to what we think abused episcopal juris- 
diction, yet our mode of governing and regula- 
ting our congregations will probably be allowed 
to be essentially episcopal. With us a few 
preside. The doctrines we subscribe are those 
of the church of England in the literal and 
grammatical sense. Nor is the liturgy of the 



NOBLE WOMEN. 121 

cnurch performed more devoutly, or the Scrip- 
tures better read for the edifying of the people, 
by any congregations in the realm than by 
those in our connection." 

Of Lady Huntingdon's control over these 
societies one of her biographers thus speaks: — 
"She kept herself carefully informed of the 
state of affairs, appointed and removed minis- 

I ters, directed the labours of students, appointed 
laymen in each congregation to superintend its 
secular concerns, indited letters of advice and 
admonition, received applications for preachers, 
conducted a numerous correspondence: in a 
word, such was her strong personal and moral 

\ influence, that no changes were made nor plans 
executed in the i connection' without her coun- 

i sel and approbation." 

Lady Grlenorchy, following her example and 
counsel, did the same in Scotland to a con- 
siderable extent. Her money and influence 
were used to form societies, erect chapels, and 
support preachers. 

It must be remembered that, in their view, a 
necessity was laid upon these reformers thus to 
act. It pleased the Head of the church to con- 
vert many sinners. The Established churches 
care did not take them in, nor did their pastors 
for them. The Wesleys and Lady Hunting- 
don were themselves zealous members of the 
Established church. The former especially 
only sought to take care of converted persons 
and those seeking conversion, many of whom 



122 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

were already members of the church. Hence, 
they did not form "churches," but " societies." 
There was a peculiar meaning in the use of the 
latter word. They were, under the Wesleys, 
associations of serious persons. They met for 
worship out of the regular church-hours gene- 
rally. They were encouraged to go to the 
churches of the Establishment when it was 
possible, to receive the sacraments. 

We have spoken of the way in which, by 
classes and class-leaders and quarterly meet- 
ings, Wesley supplied in part his lack of service 
to the societies; but it will be seen at once 
that there must have been, as the societies in- 
creased in numbers, a lack of preachers. We 
shall see how this difficulty was met. 



THE SHEPHERDS. 123 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SHEPHERDS. 

While the Wesleys and Whitefield were 
itinerating at large, a few parish ministers 
partook of their spirit. Philip Doddridge, 
author of the "Family Expositor" of the New 
Testament, Isaac Watts, the writer of so many 
spiritual songs, with Romaine, Venn, Fletcher, 
Berridge, and a goodly number of kindred 
spirits, opened their pulpits to the itinerants 
and bore with them the reproach of an earnest 
piety. Their co-operation was something more 
than a passive approval. Though not all 
agreeing in every doctrinal sentiment, many 
of them were seen for more than an ordinary 
life of active service side by side, building up 
the Redeemer's kingdom. Though not stand- 
ing at the head of a separate denomination of 
Christians, their influence was a leaven in the 
denominations to which they severally belonged. 
A sketch of the labours of the Wesleys is very 
imperfect except the co-operation of such men 
is taken into account. They were refreshed 
by their occasional presence, assisted by their 
counsels, and sustained by their active labours. 
Whether they were more immediately in con- 



124 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

nection with Lady Huntingdon or John Wes- 
ley as leaders, or whether, being animated by 
the same spirit, they preached the same stirring 
truth — salvation by faith alone — as independent 
ministers, was not essential. In the midst of 
a common opposition they were " labourers to- 
gether with God." 

A passing introduction of the reader to a 
few of this class will show more fully how the 
work which we have seen in its beginning was 
carried forward. Of Dr. Doddridge it is re- 
marked that he was eminently a man of candour 
and liberality. "A rigid spirit and a stiffness 
about things non-essential he very much dis- 
liked; he entertained a high opinion of the 
piety and zeal of many of those clergymen of 
the church of England who were stigmatized 
as Methodists. He had seen the good effects 
of their itinerant labours in his own neighbour- 
hood ; he had heard of more on unquestionable 
authority ; and this left him no room to doubt 
that God had owned them. He was well aware 
that there was some enthusiasm among them, 
and much among their followers ; but he was 
nevertheless convinced that they were emi- 
nently useful in rousing the attention of the 
careless and indifferent to the great things of 
eternity, in leading them to read and study the 
Scriptures and attend upon religious worship 
in places where they might be better instructed 
and edified. Many friendly and faithful ad- 
monitions he gave them ; and it was no incon- 



THE SHEPHERDS. " 125 

siderable evidence of the humility and candour 
of some of the great leaders of Methodism, 
particularly Mr. Whitefield and Lady Hunting- 
don, with whom he w T as more congenial in sen- 
timent, that they desired him freely to tell 
them what he thought amiss in their sentiments 
and conduct, and that they received his admo- 
nitions with thankfulness. He endeavoured to 
show T them their errors and regulate their zeal, 
which he thought a more friendly part and 
more becoming a Christian minister than to 
revile and ridicule them."* 

At the commencement of the great work of 
God of which we are attempting a sketch, Dr. 
Isaac Watts was advanced in years and feeble 
in body. In 1742 he became acquainted with 
some of the leaders of Methodism. He re- 
joiced in what God wrought by them, and in 
his Master's name bade them go forward. The 
benediction of such a teacher in Israel was no 
small encouragement. He was called to the 
church in heaven in 1748. 

There was a young man at Oxford with 
Whitefield and the Wesleys, who knew them 
and their religious zeal only to avoid and de- 
spise them. But this young man, by a train 
of remarkable providences, became a zealous 
Christian, and the eloquent preacher of St. 
Dunstan's and St. George's, Hanover Square, 
London. This was the celebrated William 

* " Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon." 
11* 



126 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Romaine. "He had been elected to St. Dun- 
stan's somewhat before his appointment to St. 
George's, Hanover Square, and at both places 
the word of the Lord, preached in the light of 
love, was glorified. Mr. Romaine's now emi- 
nent position drew attention to his voice, his 
manner, and more especially to the subject he 
treated, to the dissimilarity of all around him 
to what was observed in other churches. Al- 
though he still adhered to the written sermon, 
he delivered it with energy and pathos, and 
great and small bore testimony to the power 
with which he spoke. The gospel from his 
mouth appeared to them another gospel from 
that which they had heard before. His fame 
spread; multitudes thronged him; the church 
was crowded and the parishioners discommoded; 
the merely formal among the clergy were 
tacitly reproved by his example, — so opposite 
to their's, — and a conspiracy was formed to re- 
move him."* And they did remove him; but 
Lady Huntingdon made him one of her chap- 
lains, and thus, under the influence of a "peer 
of the realm," he became more than ever a co- 
labourer with the itinerant and field-preachers. 
The Rev. Henry Venn, author of the 
"Complete Duty of Man," was one of the 
faithful ministers of this period. He entered 
the sacred office with little appreciation of the 

* "Lady Huntingdon and Her Times," vol. i. p. 131, 
London, 1844. 



THE SHEPHERDS. 127 

true and only plan of salvation. But a severe 
sickness and a providential acquaintance with 
Whitefield and his coadjutors were sanctified in 
causing him to experience the power of saving 
faith. He recovered from his sickness to be- 
come identified in affection and labour with 
them. He was appointed soon after the minis- 
ter of the important parish of Huddersfield, in 
West Yorkshire, one hundred and ninety miles 
northwest of London, and became the apostle 
of that whole region. 

The Rev. Henry Piers was Vicar of Bexley. 
He and his excellent wife were brought to the 
knowledge of the truth by the labours of Charles 
Wesley. He bore a faithful testimony in favour 
of the revived doctrines of the church of Eng- 
land before the University of Oxford, proposing 
in the same discourse the question whether they 
as clergymen exhibited the tempers and con- 
duct which these Bible truths required. The 
chancellor, with most of his clerical brethren, 
arose in the midst of the discourse, and left the 
preacher to finish his sermon to laymen. But 
Mr. Piers patiently endured the insult, pub- 
lished his sermon, and defended its doctrines 
from the Episcopal ritual and the word of God. 

"In 1744, Charles Wesley paid a visit to the 
Rev. Vincent Perronet, Vicar of Shoreham, 
in Kent, which led to the formation of an in- 
timate and confidential friendship with that 
very intelligent pious, and amiable man. Mr. 
Perronet, having heard partial and exaggerated 



128 LIFE OF JOHN WBSL1Y. 

accounts of the Mr. Wesleys, entertained an 
unfavourable opinion concerning them. But 
upon forming a persona] acquaintance with 
John Wesley his opinions were changed. 

"From this time Mr, Perronet entered fully 
into those views of divine truth which the 
Wesleys inculcated, and became a spiritual and 
holy man. Two of his sons were afterwards 
itinerant preachers. To the end of his lite he 
was the cordial friend and wise adviser of John 
and Charles Wesley under all their public and 
domestic cares."* 

We will introduce two more only of this class 
of the early leaders of the reformation of the 
middle oi' the last century; but these are 
marked characters. The first is the Rev. 
John Berridge, of the church of Everston. 
There was every thing in the personal appear- 
ance, voice, accomplishments and character 
of Mr. Berridge to make him a popular and 
effective preacher. His wealth made him in- 
dependent of pecuniary help, and enabled him 
to do much in this way for the relief of others. 
His labours were incessant, and were remark- 
ably attended by immediate success. 

kk For twenty-four years he continued to ride 
nearly one hundred miles and to preach some 
ten or twelve sermons every week. At home, 
for his hearers who came from a distance, his 
table was served and his stable opened for their 

* Life of Charles Wesley. 



THE SHEPHERDS. 129 

horses; and abroad, houses and barns were 
rented, lay-preachers supplied, and his own 
expenses paid, out of his own pocket. The 
gains of his vicarage, of his fellowship and of his 
j patrimonial income, and even his family plate, 
were appropriated to support his liberality. " 
John Fletcher, of Madely, was for many 

; rears an intimate companion and fellow- 
abourer of Berridge. His reasons for choos- 
f ing Madely are very characteristic of the man. 
[ Mr. Hill, his patron, informed him that the 
parish at Dunham, in Cheshire, then vacant, 
i was at his service, and remarked, by way of re- 
i commendation of his offer, that there was a 
vgood income, — about two thousand dollars a 
year, — but little labour; that the situation 
was healthy and surrounded by a fine sporting 
country. Mr. Fletcher thanked his patron 
• cordially for his kindness, but added, " Alas, 
<sir, Dunham will not suit me; there is too 
much money and too little labour." "Few 
clergymen make such objections,' ' said Mr. 
Hill. "It is a pity to decline such a living, as 
I do not know that I can find you another. 
What shall we do? Would you like Madely"?" 
"That, sir, would be the .very place for me;" 
-and Mr. Hill had no difficulty in persuading 
the minister of Madely to exchange his poor, 
obscure parish for the rich and eligible one of 
Dunham, and Mr. Fletcher was accommodated 
in his own way. 

He was subsequently employed by Lady 



130 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

Huntingdon to preach, occasionally as her 
chaplain in the most prominent chapels of her 
connection, and was by her appointed president 
of her theological school in Wales. 

Mr. Venn, who differed from him in several 
points of doctrine, thus speaks of him : — " I have 
known all the great men for these fifty years, 
but I have known none like him. I was inti- 
mately acquainted with him, and was once un- 
der the same roof with him for six weeks, 
during which time I never heard him say a 
single word which was not proper to be spoken, 
and which had not a tendency to minister 
grace to the hearers." 

Fletcher's fine personal appearance, solid 
learning, remarkable elocution, and the rich 
imagery with which he clothed his affluent 
thoughts, together with an intimacy of com- 
munion with God seldom attained, combined to 
constitute him, next to John Wesley, perhaps 
the most influential minister of early Methodism. 

Such were some of the shepherds which God 
placed over the flock which we have seen newly 
gathered from the wilderness of the world. 
They were scattered here and there, — a few 
compared with the multitudes who needed such 
pastors. The harvest was ripe, and many more 
labourers were needed, who should be called 
of God into the vineyard. We shall next see 
the method that was resorted to for the sup 
ply of the deficiency. 



THE HELPERS. 131 



CHAPTER XIV. 

6 THE HELPERS.' 

The reader will recollect the necessity which 
suggested and called for the appointment of 
class-leaders in the Wesleyan societies. This 
was one step towards raising up a new class of 

i preachers immediately from the lay-members. 

, But its tendency to such a result was not seen 
at the time. Wesley's convictions that no 

■ person could properly preach without a regular 
ordination were very strong. But, being very 
much pressed for assistance, especially in the 

J society at London, he at one time, in 1740, left 
Thomas Maxfield to strengthen them by his 
prayers and exhortations. Maxfield had been 
one of the first-fruits of his labours at Bristol. 

r He possessed a fervent spirit and great elo- 
quence of speech. His exhortations were 
with such power that the society-rooms were 
thronged to hear him. Lady Huntingdon 

Q wrote of him to Mr. Wesley as follows : — 

" He is one of the greatest instances of God's 

I peculiar favour that I know; he is raised from 

J the stones to sit among the princes of the earth. 

I He is my astonishment ! How is God's power 
shown in weakness! The first time I made 



132 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

him expound, expecting little from him, I sat 
over against him and thought what a power of 
God must be with him to make me give atten- 
tion to him. But before he had gone over one 
fifth part, any that had seen me would have 
thought I had been made of wood or stone, so 
quite immovable I both felt and looked. His 
power in prayer is quite extraordinary. To 
deal plainly, I could either talk or write for an 
hour about him." 

Mr. Maxfield began at once to preach. Sin- 
ners were awakened and converted, and be- 
lievers greatly strengthened. Large and at- 
tentive congregations listened to him. But 
the sense of propriety of even many of the 
most pious was greatly offended at the pre- 
sumption of a layman in preaching. Mr. 
Wesley was greatly offended too, and hastened 
to London to arrest the evil. His mother 
lived at that time in his house connected with 
the foundry. Perceiving that her son was 
highly displeased, she inquired the cause. He 
answered, " Mother, I learn that Thomas Max- 
field has turned preacher !" His mother looked 
at him seriously, and replied, " John, you know 
what my sentiments have been; you cannot 
suspect me of favouring readily any thing of 
this kind ; but take care what you do with re- 
spect to that young man, for he is as surely 
called of God to preach as you are. Examine 
what have been the fruits of his preaching, and 
hear him also yourself." 



THE HELPERS. 133 

He accordingly heard Maxfield preach, and 
at once yielded his approbation. Thus en- 
couraged, Maxfield was for a long time to Mr. 
Wesley as a "right hand." After labouring 
several years as a lay-preacher, he was ordained 
by the Bishop of Derry, at Mr. Wesley's par- 
ticular request. On receiving him for ordina- 
tion the bishop remarked, "Sir, I ordain you 
to assist that good man, John Wesley, that he 
may not work himself to death. " 

Maxfielcl's example was soon followed by 
many others. It only remained for the minis- 
ters higher in influence to direct and regulate 
in the carrying out of this appointment, — not 
to suppress it. 

Wesley had scarcely announced his approval 
of Maxfield, before another extraordinary cha- 
racter was ushered into his presence, having 
God's commission to preach. His name was 
John Nelson, a poor mason who had come from 
Yorkshire to London to labour at his trade. 
He mingled in the crowd at Moorfields and 
heard Wesley. He trembled under the word, 
but soon found peace in believing. He then 
began at once to try to save others. He fasted 
one day in the week and gave the food so 
saved to the poor. He reproved Sabbath- 
breaking and all open sin, and led all he 
could to hear Wesley preach. So great was 
his solicitude for the salvation of the friends 
he had left in Yorkshire, that, the Christmas 
following his conversion, he left London at a 
12 



134 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY,' 

sacrifice of fifty dollars and turned his face 
homeward. He says, "I then had no more 
idea of preaching than of eating fire." When 
he told the story of his new birth to his mo- 
ther, she answered, "Why, John, your head is 
turned." "Yes, mother," replied John, with 
deep emotion, — "and my heart too." Soon after 
he attended a religious meeting. At its close 
he began to tell the people what God had done 
for him. Some laughed, many disputed, and a 
few heard the word gladly. This was noised 
abroad, and every evening, when the labour of 
the day was over, the neighbours went to John 
Nelson's to dispute his new notions. He turned 
over the Bible to confirm his experience by 
the word. They soon ceased to gainsay, and 
crowds came to hear him exhort and pray. So 
deep was the interest and so manifest the Spirit 
of God on these occasions, that those who were 
awakened and converted said, "John, preach 
to us." At this John was startled, and aban- 
doned his post and fled. But a sense of duty 
followed him, and he returned and preached, 
and hundreds were greatly rejoiced. Embar- 
rassed by his novel and unexpected position, 
Mr. Nelson sent to London, informing Mr. 
Wesley of all that had happened and all he 
had done, and asked his advice. Wesley went 
to see him, tarried a week, heard John preach, 
witnessed the evidence of the approbation of 
God in a large society which was formed, and 
he accepted Nelson also as a fellow-helper. 



THE HELPERS. 135 

Among the servants of Lord Huntingdon 
there was a man of some education and of good 
natural ability, whose heart God had turned 
to the truth by the preaching at his lordship's 
house. His name was David Taylor. His 
piety and good sense induced the countess to 
send him to the hamlets in the vicinity of her 
residence to speak to the people. He soon 
became a field-preacher of great popularity, 
and was the means of forming a large circle of 
societies. 

On one occasion, while Whitefield was 
preaching in Nottingham, a party of young 
men agreed among themselves to award a prize 
to that one of the company who should succeed 
best in mimicking the style of Mr. Whitefield. 
After three of them had in turn exhausted 
their stock of buffoonery, a fourth, named 
Thorpe, mounted the table. He opened the 
Bible, and his eyes rested upon these words : — 
"Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." 
It was to him like the handwriting of God on 
the wall to the guilty king of Babylon. The 
few words he uttered were the expressions of a 
convicted sinner. A profound silence per- 
vaded the company when he came down from 
his mock pulpit, and the party broke up with- 
out merriment. Mr. Thorpe became an eminent 
lay-preacher, and finally an ordained minister 
over an Independent church. 

In these and various ways the want of more 
educated ministers was supplied from the hum- 



136 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

blest walks of life. In many instances, though 
men of strong sense and good natural orators, 
they were homely in their style. There was 
too much sincerity for any thing that did not 
aim directly at the conversion of the heartland 
too much itinerating for literary pursuits. 
The churches of the learned were often for- 
saken by plain persons for the more practical 
preaching of these simpler men. 

The Bishop of Worcester had observed a 
poor man very attentive to his preaching. 
But, having missed him for some time, he asked 
him one day why he had thus forsaken the 
house of God. "If you will not be offended, 
my lord," said John, "I will tell you. I have 
been to hear the Methodists, because I can 
better understand their plain words." "You 
are right," said the generous prelate; "go, 
John, where you can best save your soul ; and 
here is a guinea for you," handing him the 
money. 

Thus were preachers and guides provided 
both for the rich and poor, for the learned and 
unlearned, and the extraordinary demands of 
the people were met with extraordinary 
ministers. 

It has been a pleasant task thus far to show 
how faithfully the good men of whom we have 
written preached a common salvation, and how 
cordially they loved each other. It is a sad duty 
to speak of their disagreements. But in doing 
so we only exhibit in them a common infirmity, 



IHE HELPERS. 137 

no less humiliating and instructive because com- 
mon. If men so truly holy in heart and so 
ready to suffer the reproach of the cross to save 
souls allowed for a moment a cloud to over- 
shadow their love for each other, how necessary 
that .we " should watch and be sober"! 

At the commencement of field-preaching and 
the consequent formation of the societies, Cal- 
vinists and disbelievers in Calvinism, Presby- 
terians, Episcopalians, and Independents, had 
all united together in love. They agreed to 
differ on those points which did not separate 
them from Christ. During Mr. Whitefield's 
second visit to America, Mr. Wesley seems to 
have taken a more decided stand against Cal- 
vinism ; and Whitefield, on the other hand, was 
confirmed in his Calvinistic views by his in- 
tercourse with eminent persons of that belief in 
New England. Some one sent to him, across 
the water, a sermon which Wesley had just 
preached on "Free Grace." To this White- 
field wrote a friendly answer or review, which 
was published without the knowledge of either 
Whitefield or Wesley. Copies were scattered 
among Mr. Wesley's congregation at the foun- 
dry. Mr. John Cennick, head-master of the 
school at Kingswood, a warm friend of Mr. 
Whitefield, espoused zealously like sentiments. 
Wl^en Mr. Whitefield returned, early in 1741, 
his spirit was disturbed. A heavy debt for his 
"Orphan-Home" enterprise in Georgia embar- 
rassed him. The Moravian "quietism" had 
12* 



138 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

disaffected many of his, as it had done many of 
other societies, and he felt that it was an addi- 
tional evil that his friends the Wesleys should 
haven give their extensive influence in favour 
of what he believed an error. 

But their mutual love was strong, and would, 
we think, have prevailed in inducing them to 
have laboured together for souls in a harmo- 
nious disagreement, if their friends had been 
equally forbearing. As it was, they separated. 
Mr. Cennick drew off about half of the society 
at Kingswood ; and from this time these hitherto 
warm friends and co-labourers had their separate 
chapels and separate societies. But after a lit- 
tle interval they were again one in love, as they 
had ever been in purpose. They preached in 
each other's houses of worship, united in social 
assemblies for prayer, and stood side by side 
before the multitudes in the open fields. When, 
nearly twenty years after, Whitefield was dying 
on the shores of our own Merrimack, he left 
tokens of his ardent love for John and Charles 
Wesley. 



IN PERILS, 139 



CHAPTER XV. 

IN PERILS. 

The plain exhibition of gospel truth to a 
wicked world provokes its opposition, especially 
if that truth be pointedly applied to the in- 
dividual conscience. So it was in the days of 
Christ and his apostles, and so it will ever be. 

The history which we are recording affords 
interesting though sad illustrations of this 
statement. The Wesleys and Whitefield, with 
those who co-operated with them, could speak 
of sufferings for Christ's sake, and many of 
them could adopt the language of the apostle : — 
"We are troubled on every side." In their 
great zeal and large success they were doubt- 
less often led to use measures and language 
which they afterwards saw to be imprudent, 
because calculated to excite prejudice where 
other means might have conciliated their op- 
ponents. But it would be expecting more than 
human nature can ever do in this life, to look 
for perfect wisdom under such exciting and 
novel circumstances; and, whatever want of 
judgment might sometimes have been evinced 
by these great reformers, it furnished no excuse 
for the spirit in which they were often opposed. 



140 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

The aggravating, if not the procuring, cause 
of much of their persecution, was the counte- 
nance given to their enemies by the civil and 
ecclesiastical authorities. There is upon the 
parish-record of a church in Cornwall, at this 
day, for the examination of the curious, an 
entry of five shillings paid from the treasury 
"to drive the Methodists from the parish.' ' 

At one time Charles Wesley had preached 
at Moorfields, London, to ten thousand people. 
In going to another appointment on Kenning- 
ton Common, he crossed a frequented field 
which lay in his way. The owner prosecuted 
him for trespass ; and he was fined fifty dollars 
and cost, amounting to nearly one hundred dol- 
lars. He paid it, entering on the back of the 
receipt the significant remark, "I paid them 
the things I never took;" and at the bottom, 
"To be re-judged in that day." 

His arrest at another time was less serious 
in its consequences, partaking somewhat of the 
ludicrous. The grandson and heir of the ex- 
pelled king, James II., was attempting to re- 
gain the authority of the banished family. 
This heir was known as the Pretender. Charles 
Wesley was praying in the midst of his vast 
out-door congregation with great fervency, and 
the expression dropped from his lips, " Lord, 
bring home thy banished ones." Some loyal 
subject of the reigning king informed against 
him as having spoken treasonable words. 
Wesley was carried before a magistrate, charged 



IN PERILS. 141 

with that high crime. On his way to the court 
he expressed his feelings, as he often did, in 
verse : — 

" Jesus, in this hour be near; 

On thy servant's side appear; 

Call'd thy honour to maintain, 

Help a feeble child of man. 

* * * * 

" All of mine be cast aside, 

Anger, fear, and guile and pride ; 

Only give me from above 

Simple faith and humble love. 

" Set my face and fix my heart ; 
Now the promised power impart; 
Meek, submissive, and resign' d, 
Arm me with thy constant mind." 

In answer to the accusations, he remarked to 
the court that the home of Christians was in 
heaven; that while pilgrims on earth they 
were exiles from home, or, in an important 
sense, " banished ones;" that it was in re- 
ference to this that he prayed. The answer 
was accepted and the case dismissed. 

But these annoyances which the preachers 
suffered were only preludes of more serious 
troubles. The persecutions against John Wes- 
ley first assumed a violent form at Bristol ; but 
jthe magistrates subdued the disturbance at 
once. The next outbreak was at London. 
He was stoned in the street; wildfire and 
explosive materials were thrown into the room 
'where he was preaching, and attempts were 
made to unroof the foundry. But the king 



ill 



142 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

gave express commands to the authorities to 
protect Wesley and his people from lawless 
molestation. The attacks therefore failed. 
The scene was next transferred to Wednesbury, 
a town near Birmingham. A multitude of 
enraged people assembled in the churchyard, 
and went through the town, visiting about one 
hundred Methodist families, breaking the glass, 
doors and furniture, dragging into the street 
the women and children, soiling and sometimes 
tearing to pieces wearing-apparel, and marking 
their pathway with the mutilation of whatever 
came in their way. Mechanics' and traders' 
shops were stripped of tools and merchandise. 
A few days after these proceedings, John 
Wesley quietly mounted a little eminence on 
the public square near the centre of the town, 
and preached to a large congregation. From 
the public service he retired to a friend's house 
and sat down to write. As the evening drew 
near the mob gathered about the house, roaring, 
" Bring out Wesley!" Wesley sent for the 
leader, who came in, trembling with rage. He 
spoke to him a few calm words of expostulation. 
The temper of his mind was changed, and he 
went out and brought in the next fiercest 
spirit. By the same subduing moral power 
they were disarmed, and returned to their com- 
panions with a changed purpose. Wesley then 
went out, stood upon a chair, and uttered words 
which were always influential with the mob, 
however mad they might be, when they were 



IN PERILS. 143 

allowed to reach their ears. At this time they 
heard and were silenced. "He is an honest 
gentleman!'' said one. "We will spill our 
blood in his defence !" exclaimed another; and 
so the assurances of good feeling took the place 
of angry threats. 

"What would you have me do?" asked Wes- 
ley. "Go to the magistrate's with us," they 
exclaimed. "I will go cheerfully," replied 
Wesley, and started off immediately, followed 
by the crowd. The magistrate was two miles 
distant, and the night had come on dark and 
rainy. Having arrived at "his honour's," 
they informed him that they had brought Mr. 
Wesley and the Methodists before him. " What 
have they done?" asked the justice. "Why, 
please your honour, they sing psalms all day, 
and make folks get up at five o'clock in the 
morning. What would your worship advise 
us to do?" "Go home and be quiet," an- 
swered the sensible magistrate. 

Seeming determined to have the case tried, 
they started off, through rain and mud, to 
Walsal, a neighbouring village, But the ma- 
gistrate had gone to bed, and would not attend 
to their demands. The mob then peaceably 
/scattered, leaving Wesley in the hands of his 
, friends, who undertook to escort him to a place 
of quiet and safety. They had proceeded but 
a few rods before a mob from Walsal came in 
overwhelming numbers upon them and swept 
away all but three of his protectors. Their 



144 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

course was down hill, the road was slippery, 
and the darkness unrelieved by a single star. 
They tried to trip him up, but failed. They 
aimed heavy blows at him ; but, being low of 
stature, they passed over his head and fell upon 
his enemies. Amid the darkness, the patter- 
ing of the rain, and the confused din of the 
tramping multitude, Wesley could distinctly 
hear the shouts, " Knock his brains out!" 
"Hang him!" "Drown him!" "Kill the dog 
outright!" "Throw him into the river!" As 
they rushed forward, he attempted to enter an 
open door, but was violently pulled back by 
his hair. The next open door to which he 
came was the mayor's, who stood near ; but he 
refused him admission, lest the mob should 
tear his house down. Here the mob came to 
a stand. The mayor looked passively on. 
Turning to the people, Wesley said, "Will you 
hear me?" "Yes," they exclaimed, "we will 
hear you." With Wesley, on such occasions, 
to be heard was to triumph. So the state of 
affairs turned from this moment. A fifteen 
minutes' talk called forth from the changing 
multitude many expressions of respect. The 
champion, a man of great physical power and 
a fierce spirit, stepped forward proudly and 
said, "Sir, follow me; not a soul shall touch 
a hair of your head." Under the guidance 
of this newly-made friend, he took the road to 
Wednesbury. They came to a river over 
which was thrown a bridge ; but the bridge was 



IN PERILS. 145 

densely packed with savage men. Without a 
1 moment's hesitation, his guide took him upon 
his broad shoulders and waded with him to the 
opposite bank, and conducted him through by- 
paths to a friend's house in safety ! 

Three days after these events, Charles Wes- 
ley entered Wednesbury and preached. 

Our limited space will not permit us to fol- 
low Whitefield and Charles Wesley through 
scenes of similar persecution. If it did, we 
should see them bearing themselves with like 
self-possession, Christian meekness and over- 
powering moral boldness. They sought to 
give no just cause of offence, but they were not 
willing to yield to popular clamour their reli- 
gious and civil rights as Englishmen. When 
it could be done with a reasonable expectation 
of success, they appealed for protection to the 
civil powers. 

Lady Huntingdon and John Wesley did this 
on several occasions, in behalf of the people 
under their care, with good effect. At one 
time Wesley had been personally insulted by 
the officers of a regiment quartered at Lowes- 
toft, Suffolk; he wrote immediately to inform 
their commander, and asked for redress with 
becoming firmness. " Before," said he, "I use 
any other method, I beg you, sir, who can do 
it with a word, to prevent our being insulted 
any more. We are men ; we are Englishmen ; 
as such we have a natural and a legal right to 
liberty of conscience." The appeal was re- 
13 



146 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

garded, and the officers demeaned themselves 
in a more civil manner. 

Not succeeding well with the leaders of the 
reformation, the opposers of religion took 
another course. It was a time of war. Sol- 
diers for the army and navy were in great de- 
mand. The law allowed the arrest of " able- 
bodied men who had no visible means of earn- 
ing a living/' and their forcible entry upon the 
list of soldiers after a trial before a magistrate. 
Unfortunately the wants of the War Depart- 
ment were pressing, and the consciences of the 
rulers were not tender ; so the recruiting officers 
exercised a shameful tyranny over those who 
were without wealth or without personal friends 
of influence. Many such were torn away from 
their homes and families and sent on foreign 
campaigns, to die on the battle-field, or by 
fatigue and want. Seeing that the Methodists 
were the subjects of the popular ill-will, the 
officers made it a point to seize the able-bodied 
men among them for soldiers. They began by 
seizing John Nelson, of whom we have given 
some account. Perhaps they could not have 
made a more unfortunate choice for their pur- 
pose. John was intelligent in worldly matters, 
shrewd, and bold. He was arrested at the in- 
stigation of the ale-house keeper, whose busi- 
ness he injured by reforming its patrons. 
When carried before the magistrate, John de- 
manded to be heard in his own defence ; but he 
was told that the court knew enough about 



IN PERILS. 147 

him. He was kept the following night without 
food in a dungeon under a slaughter-house. 
The next morning he was marched to Leeds 
<,. and left standing in the street under a guard. 
The officer, to intimidate him, reminded him 
. that his doom was death if he proved disobe- 
dient. "I do not fear the man that can kill 
me, any more than I do him that can cut down 
, a weed," replied Nelson. He was next carried 
to York and brought before a company of 
officers, who were to cast lots to determine to 
d whose command he should fall. They were 
j profane, and Nelson reproved them. Turning 
, to him, an officer said, sternly, "We will have 
2 no preaching here. We are officers ; we will not 
be reproved by you." "There is but one way 
to prevent it," replied Nelson, with equal 
authority; "you must leave off swearing." 

They then marched him through the city; 
and the idle crowd gazed and shouted, exulting 
that a Methodist preacher was compelled to be 
a soldier. The officer to whose command he 
fell offered him money, in order to bind him 
legally, but he refused to take it. In great 
anger, the officer handcuffed and sent him to 
jail. He faithfully rebuked the awful pro- 
faneness of the inmates and officers of the jail, 
during his imprisonment of three days and 
nights. A few were subdued, and promised 
to swear no more. To those who came about 
the jail through curiosity he preached Christ. 
The next day he was carried before a court- 



148 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

martial. "It is our business/' said the court, 
"to make you a soldier. It is your business 
to obey, sir. Sergeant, give him some mo- 
ney." To this Nelson replied firmly, "I am 
a soldier of the Prince of peace. I shall not 
fight. I will not take your money, but shall 
not run away." With this answer the court 
was obliged to be content. They sent Nelson 
to the drilling officer ; but he so interested the 
officer by his preaching that he forgot his duty. 
All felt his persuasive powers. If he was 
"trained" in the company, their attention be- 
came absorbed by his earnest exhortations. 
Even the people of the city flocked to the 
muster-field to hear him. At one time it was 
thought not less than six thousand listened to 
his discourse. The officers threatened to whip 
him publicly if he preached again. The next 
evening Nelson preached with great freedom. 
"I will not have preaching," said the officer. 
"Then you must not have swearing," said 
Nelson; "if it is your right to commit out- 
breaking sin, it is my right to preach." 

He was answered by a command to go to 
jail, whither multitudes followed him. From 
the jail he went before a superior officer, who, on 
learning the complaint against him, gave him 
liberty to preach as much as he pleased when 
not on duty, and promised to come and hear 
him. 

As the regiment moved from place to place, 
the fame of this strange soldier went before it, 






IN PERILS. 149 

and thousands heard him gladly. During one 
of the haltings of the regiment, John Weslej 
visited him. His advice to him is character- 
istic. "Brother Nelson, lose no time. Speak, 
and spare not." 

The persecution of Mr. Nelson was brought 
to a close through the influence of Lady Hun- 
tingdon. She appealed in his behalf to the 
Earl of Stair, who ordered his release. Again 
at liberty, Nelson troubled the consciences of 
the wicked more than ever, and many were 
made glad through his words. 

We have given the details of John Nelson's 
case to illustrate the kind of persecution which 
was suffered. Many of the lay-preachers were 
seized by the press-gangs. Some died under 
the abuse they suffered. Even Mr. Wesley 
himself was once taken by them, but not kept. 
He would have been a more annoying soldier 
than Nelson. But Maxfield, the first lay- 
preacher, and subsequently an ordained mi- 
nister of th^ Episcopal church, was compelled 
to serve in the army ! 



13* 



150 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DIVINE CHASTENINGS AND HUMAN INFIRMITIES. 

In the latter part of the year 1753, John 
Wesley was seriously ill. His labours and ex- 
posure had broken his bodily health, and he 
appeared to be near the end of his earthly 
career. On his partial recovery, being unable 
to travel, he retired to a quiet residence near 
Bristol, and wrote his brief " Notes on the New 
Testament." In the same year Mrs. Charles 
Wesley was seized with the small-pox. Lady 
Huntingdon, whose friendship for her never 
knew abatement, administered to her in this 
hour of need. Scarcely had the mother begun 
to recover, when her only child, — her little 
John Wesley, — about a year old, died of the 
same disease. The sensitive mind of Charles 
Wesley suffered keenly by these chastenings. 
The Countess of Huntingdon had been taught 
to comfort others by her own bereavements. 
In 1744, the small-pox had carried to the 
tomb two of her children. In 1746, her hus- 
band died suddenly. But still other afflictions 
awaited her. In May, 1763, she writes, "It 
has pleased our dear God and only Saviour to 
take from me my dearest, my altogether lovely 






CHASTENINGS AND INFIRMITIES. 151 

child and daughter, Lady Selina Hastings, the 
desire of my eyes and continual pleasure of 
my heart.'.' But the weeping parent was con- 
soled by the triumphant Christian faith of her 
dying child. 

Whitefield and Fletcher shared largely in 
these chastenings, either in their families or 
persons. But John Wesley seems to have had 
but one severe sickness after that already men- 
tioned. His herculean labours were performed 
by a remarkable power of physical endurance. 

But while John Wesley's long life was bur- 
dened with but little bodily suffering, his do- 
mestic trials were of a peculiar character. The 
reader will doubtless recollect his disappoint- 
ment in the affair with the young lady in 
Georgia. From that time he seems not to 
have allowed his attention to be turned towards 
marriage until he was about forty-seven years 
of age. At this time he contracted an engage- 
ment with Mrs. Grace Murray,, the widow of a 
Scotch gentleman, who, from a gay and worldly 
character, had, under the ministry of Mr. 
Wesley, become an active Christian, and one 
of the most efficient helpers in the Methodist 
societies. It is said that through the inter- 
ference of his brother Charles this marriage 
was prevented. It is certain that Mrs. Mur- 
ray, unexpectedly to Mr. Wesley, became the 
wife of the Rev. John Bennet, a preacher in 
the Wesleyan connection. In this disappoint- 
ment, as in every event, he acknowledged the 



152 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

hand of Providence and submitted to the 
divine will. 

In the year 1751, Mr. Wesley married Mrs. 
Vizelle, a lady of independent fortune, a widow 
of a London merchant. Before the marriage, 
her property, at Mr. Wesley's request, was 
legally restricted to her disposal. This mar- 
riage proved a very unhappy one. Mrs. Wes- 
ley complained of her husband's abundant 
labour and long journeys, though it was agreed 
between them, previous to marriage, that he 
should not preach one sermon nor travel one 
mile less on that account. He had then said 
to her, "If I thought I should, much as I love 
you, I would never see your face more." An 
intimate ministerial friend of Mr. Wesley, who 
knew both parties well, says, "She had every 
appearance of being well qualified for the 
sphere into which she- was introduced. She 
seemed truly pious, and was very agreeable in 
her person and manners." She, however, after 
in vain endeavouring to confine him to a more 
domestic life, gave place to jealousy, and, after 
many years of domestic disquietude, separated 
from him altogether. 

From these personal and family adversities 
we pass to a few unhappy circumstances of a 
more public character. We have already spoken 
of the separation of the leading Methodist 
reformers from the Moravians on account of 
their "quietism," and of the temporary breach 
of the Wesleys with Whitefield caused by the 



CHASTENINGS AND INFIRMITIES. 153 

Calvinistic question. These troubles were in 
the early period of their career. As the socie- 
ties and the preachers multiplied, the diffi- 
culty of union in sentiments and measures in- 
creased. It might be expected also that men 
would occasionally receive the sanction of Lady 
Huntingdon or Wesley to act as ministers, who 
would prove unworthy of their confidence and 
betray their sacred trust. Such being the 
case, there were some agitating controversies 
and unhappy separations. 

The first marked individual departure from 
ministerial integrity in Mr. Wesley's connec- 
tion was by James Wheatley. His preaching 
was followed by multitudes of people ; but, being 
accused of certain immoral habits, he first 
equivocated, and then acknowledged them, 
alleging that many of the preachers did the 
same thing. This aroused the Wesleys to in- 
quire more strictly into the character of their 
helpers. Charles was" sent on a special visit 
to every circuit and society, to investigate the 
conduct of every preacher. The result was 
highly satisfactory, Wheatley standing alone 
in his moral delinquency. Wheatley was ex- 
cluded from the connection ; and from this 
period until now, the character of a Methodist 
preacher is a subject of yearly inquiry in their 
stated conferences. 

In 1755, a serious difficulty commenced in 
Mr. Wesley's societies, and among the preach- 
ers, in relation to the Lord's supper. At Lon- 



154 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

don and Bristol his people had partaken of 
this sacred rite at the hands of such clergymen 
of the church of England as were co-labourers 
in the reformation. In most other places the 
people had gone to their parish churches for 
the purpose. But not unfrequently they were 
recognised among the communicants and denied 
the emblems of their Saviour's death. This 
and many other circumstances rendered the 
reception of the ordinance from this source 
either exceedingly unpleasant or impracticable. 
Some were in conscience opposed to receiving 
it in this way. Under these circumstances, a 
few of Mr. Wesley's preachers administered 
the Lord's supper to the societies under their 
care, both without his consent and without any 
professed ordination. 

This gave great offence, especially to Charles 
Wesley. A conference to consider this mat- 
ter met at Leeds, and sixty-three preachers 
were present. The question involved was, 
" Shall we separate from the church and have 
the ordinances as a distinct church?" The 
conclusion arrived at by all was, "Whether it 
is lawful or not, it is not expedient." All the 
lay-preachers agreed to refrain from the ad- 
ministration of the sacraments. In this they 
showed, as Mr. John Wesley remarks, an ex- 
cellent spirit, for they claimed a right to be 
vested with Scriptural authority for this so- 
lemn service, without episcopal ordination. 
But Charles Wesley was not satisfied. He 



CHASTENINGS AND INFIRMITIES. 155 

believed that this sentiment would lead to con- 
tinual dissension and final separation ; and, 
though his love for his brother and his labours 
in connection with him in and around Bristol 
and London were unabated, yet he did not 
from this time take so prominent a part as be- 
fore in the work. His denominational senti- 
ments never yielded to emergencies as did his 
brother's. The latter says, in a letter to 
Charles at this time, " I only fear the preachers' 
or the people's leaving, not the church, but the 
love of God and inward or outward holiness. 
I press them forward to this continually. I 
dare not in conscience spend my time on ex- 
ternals." And yet John Wesley ever continued 
strong in his attachment to the church of 
England. 

In 1770 occurred an event the consequences 
of which were in most respects deeply painful. 
We refer to the renewal of the Calvinistic con- 
troversy. It alienated the brotherly affection 
of good and great men. It gave occasion for 
the enemies of religion unjustly to speak evil 
of it; and if there were compensating advan- 
tages they are not generally conceded. 

The controversy included questions concern- 
ing which the most pious and exemplary Chris- 
tians of the present day differ, and in respect 
to which difference of opinion will continue 
long to exist. The very statement of the 
history of the controversy is involved and con- 
tradictory. We must therefore decline any of 



156 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

the details of this really important event, or 
the doctrines or spirit of the opponents. We 
would however claim one concession in favour 
of both parties. Their Christian integrity 
must be allowed to be unimpeachable. The 
character of men is best known, not by a few 
good deeds nor an occasional hasty act or 
word, but by the whole life. If the Countess 
of Huntingdon and John Wesley, with their co- 
labourers, have not earned the confidence of 
the Christian world by their labours, their self- 
denials, their sufferings for Christ's sake, their 
prevalent spirit of prayer and faith, and 
especially by what God wrought by them, then 
on whom shall that confidence rest ? Nor do 
we think their claims to this confidence greatly 
differ. When the pen and spirit of controversy 
is laid aside, they appear to us to be born of the 
same spirit and to aim at the same end, — 
namely, their own and the world's salvation. 



EXTENDED ITINERATING. 157 



CHAPTER XVII, 

EXTENDED ITINERATING. 

The success of Webley and his friends at 
London, Bristol, and vicinities, encouraged 
tliem to extend their preaching-excursions to 
other parts of the country. At an early period 
of his field-preaching, Wesley visited New- 
castle, in one of the important coal-regions. 
Accustomed as he was to witness outbreak- 
ing sin, such as profaneness, drunkenness and 
Sabbath-breaking, he was astonished at the 
wickedness of the people of Newcastle. Going 
to the most degraded portion of the town, and 
taking his stand at the end of the street, he 
sang with a bold, clear voice the hundredth 
psalm. The people one after another were 
attracted to the spot, until about fifteen hun- 
dred were assembled, to whom he preached. 
His audience, wondering, asked, " Who is this ?" 
At the close of the service Wesley cried out, 
"If you want to know who I am, I am John 
Wesley; at five o'clock this evening I will 
preach here again.' ' 

At the appointed hour he found the hill-side 
near the place covered with people. The mul- 
titude was greater than he had ever seen even 
14 



158 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 






at London or Bristol. They heard the word 
with great joy, and he had to retire by stealth 
in order to meet an engagement in another 
place. 

From Newcastle he visited Epworth. Here 
had been his childhood's home, and here were 
the scenes of his father's long and patient 
labours. It had been many years since he had 
been in the town. Most who had known him 
were sleeping quietly in the churchyard : his 
father's ashes were there. Those of his family 
who were living had sought other homes, and 
the old mansion was occupied by strangers. 
The parish minister had been under obligations 
to Wesley's father, and to Wesley personally, 
for kindness shown in his early years. But 
he refused to admit him to the pulpit where 
he had often stood as the assistant of his father, 
and where that father had for nearly half a 
century preached and solemnized the Christian 
worship. He even carried his unkindness to 
persecuting rudeness. He repelled Wesley from 
the sacramental table, and preached on the 
evils of enthusiasm, evidently directing his re- 
marks against his distinguished hearer. But 
the people wished to hear Wesley preach, and 
it was soon noised abroad that he would be in 
the churchyard on Sabbath evening at six 
o'clock. At the appointed hour Epworth and 
its vicinity had poured into the churchyard 
almost the whole mass of their population. 
The preacher stood upon the tombstone of his 



EXTENDED ITINERATING. 159 

father, as if when disowned in the church and 
pulpit of his venerated parent he would take 
refuge as near as possible to his remains. "I 
stood, " said he, "near the east end of the 
church, upon my father's tombstone, and cried, 
' The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, 
but righteousness and peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost."' 

The multitude were awed into profound at- 
tention. The associations, the gazing crowd, 
a profound conviction of the solemnity and 
importance of the truth he was about to utter, 
aroused every energy of the preacher's mind. 
Never perhaps did he preach with more elo- 
quence and effect. Hundreds were awakened 
and brought to penitence and prayer. For 
seven successive evenings he preached from the 
same spot, and the whole country was moved 
by the power of the word. Much of the 
harvest of the forty years' ministry of his 
father was now perhaps gathered. 

From the rejoicings o aany and the clamor- 
ous opposition of a few, Wesley left Epworth 
for London, to stand beside the bed of his 
dying mother. When she had fallen asleep in 
Christ, Charles Wesley celebrated her de- 
parture in his own peculiar verse : — 



Weep not for our mother deceased ; 

Our loss is her infinite gain; 
Her soul out of prison's released 

And freed from its bodily chain 



160 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY, 

With songs let us follow her flight 
And mount with her spirit above, 

Escaped to the mansions of light 
And lodged in the Eden of love. 

We have followed Wesley thus briefly in 
some of his principal journeyings in England: 
we will now glance at his labours in Scotland. 

The Presbyterian church is the established 
church in Scotland, as the Episcopal is in Eng- 
land. Whitefield was the first to endeavour to 
provoke the love and zeal of its adherents. In 
the summer of 1741, in compliance with earnest 
invitations, he visited that country. Here, as 
elsewhere, he broke away from old usages, and, 
with a freedom which astonished the people, 
he uttered his stirring appeals to thousands 
of listening hearers in the parks and commons 
of the cities and the fields and highways of the 
country. Though the Scotch community did 
not so generally share in the prevailing revival 
as other portions of the United Kingdom, yet 
a great work was commenced by this visit. 
Soon after, Lady Glenorchy and Lady Max- 
well exerted themselves to continue what had 
been thus begun. There were also many faith- 
ful coadjutors among the leading ministers of 
the Presbyterian church. 

As early as 1745, Mr. Wesley's fame had 
attracted attention in Scotland. Some of the 
eminent men of the country opened a corre- 
spondence at that time with him, and thus the 
way was prepared for a future visit. But it 



EXTENDED ITINERATING. 161 

was not until 1751 that he extended thither his 
itinerating labours. A colonel of the army, then 
in quarters near Edinburgh, had pressed him to 
come. Mr. Wesley having mentioned this to 
Mr. Whitefield, he replied, "You have no 
business there ; for your principles are so well 
known, if you spoke like an angel none would 
hear you. And if they did, you would have 
nothing to do but to dispute with one and 
another from morning to night." Wesley re- 
plied, "If God sends me, people will hear 
me ; and I will give them no provocation to dis- 
pute,- for I will studiously avoid controverted 
points and keep to the fundamental truths of 
the gospel." He went. Multitudes heard 
him gladly. He remained but a few days, but 
promised to send them a preacher. 

In 1753 Mr. Wesley again visited Scotland, 
and was admitted into the pulpits of some of 
the most eminent divines. He says, "Surely 
with God nothing is impossible ! Who would 
have believed, five-and-twenty years ago, either 
that the minister would have desired it, or that 
I should have consented to preach in a Scotch 
kirk?" 

During one of Mr. Wesley 's visits he was walk- 
ing near the King's College, Aberdeen. While 
looking at the grounds and the edifices, a party 
of ladies and gentlemen standing near saw 
him. After a little consultation, they sent one 
of their number to him to speak for them. 
"This is Mr. Wesley, I think?" said he, po- 
14* 



162 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

litely. " The ladies and gentlemen yonder 
were not fortunate enough to hear you preach 
on the college-green last evening. You will 
extremely oblige them if you will give them a 
short discourse here." Ever ready to sow 
precious seed, he commenced immediately. 

While the work of God was prospering in 
Scotland, penetrating into the highlands and 
spreading over the glens, an unfortunate check 
was given by the publication of statements 
concerning Mr. Wesley's doctrines. The spirit 
of controversy at once awoke, and the spirit of 
love grew cold. Good men laboured apart, 
who just before were seen side by side, en- 
couraging each other in the divine life and 
adding strength by their unity to their words 
of warning to the unconverted. 

The preachers under the direction of Lady 
Huntingdon did much to extend the revival 
through this kingdom. More fully agreeing 
with the people on the controverted points of 
doctrine, they met with fewer obstacles in re- 
viving a deeper spirituality throughout Scot- 
land. Thus, though the reformers halted oc- 
casionally through a failure "to see eye to eye" 
in reference to every truth, their zeal and love 
found abundant occasion for its developments, 
and the word continued to take effect in the 
hearts of men. 

In 1747 John Wesley visited Ireland. He 
arrived at Dublin just in time to attend the 
morning service. After it was concluded, he in- 



EXTENDED ITINERATING. 163 

troduced himself to the minister, by whom he 
was invited to preach in the afternoon. He 
found in the city a small Methodist society, 
formed by a preacher who had preceded him a 
few weeks. It was composed mostly of resi- 
dent English people. 

From this time John and Charles Wesley 
made frequent visits to Ireland, the former 
making extensive circuits through the country- 
towns. For a while they pursued their way in 
peace. But soon a fierce opposition arose. 
Charles Wesley, with a long list of his co- 
labourers, was charged before the court with 
being "a vagabond and a common disturber 
of his majesty's peace," and a request was 
made to the court "that they be transported." 
But the wrath of man wrought the glory and 
praise of Grod. Friends of the reformation 
were raised up on every side. Many Roman 
Catholics, from whom most of the opposition 
proceeded, were turned to the true faith of the 
gospel. Some co-labourers came from this 
class of the converts, the most useful and re- 
markable perhaps of whom was Thomas Walsh, 
a native Irishman. Under the sanction of Mr. 
Wesley, he commenced preaching in his native 
tongue. Wonderful effects followed. Nor 
was this influence gained by empty declamation. 
He was remarkably skilled in the knowledge 
of both the Hebrew and Greek languages ; and 
astonishing statements are made of the power 
of his memory in retaining the exact places 



164 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



sta- 



where important words in either of the Testa- 
ments in the original are to be found. He 
conducted his ministry in Ireland very usefully 
and extensively for ten years. 

While this work of zeal was making progress 
in the Old World, there was going on in parts 
of America such an increase of attention to the 
calls of religion as is known in history by the 
term, "The Great Awakening." Conspicuous 
among the ministers who were instrumental in 
this result were the celebrated Jonathan Ed- 
wards, then of Connecticut, and Dr. Coleman, 
of Boston. On the invitation of the latter, 
Mr. Whitefield had visited New England, and 
preached with great power and popularity in 
the churches, public squares, and fields, in the 
region bounded by the rivers Connecticut and 
Merrimack. It was here — in the town of 
Newburyport — that he died, in the year 1770. 

Whitefield in his will had transferred his 
trust in the Orphan-House in Georgia, which he 
had founded, to Lady Huntingdon. Previous 
to her assumption of this trust, as well as after- 
wards, missionaries from her connection were 
sent to that section of America. 

Following Whitefield, several of the fellow- 
labourers of Wesley, whom official duty, the 
necessities of poverty, or a spirit of enterprise, 
had brought to America, began to preach with 
the zeal of the itinerants of Moorfields and 
Kingswood. Societies were rapidly gathered, 
and application was made to Mr. Wesley to 






EXTENDED ITINERATING. 165 

send men of experience who could give them- 
selves wholly to the work. The most distin- 
guished, laborious and successful among these 
English pioneers of American Methodism was 
Francis Asbury. 

Scarcely had the work well begun when the 
revolution of 1775 threw the country into con- 
fusion. All the prominent English preachers 
returned to their native country except Asbury, 
who quietly waited in retirement for the storm 
of war to pass away. On the return of peace 
and the establishment of American indepen- 
dence, the American Methodist societies were 
placed in a peculiar position. Being so far 
from their former guide, Mr. Wesley, and under 
a different civil government, the necessity for a 
distinct church organization was felt and 
acknowledged both by Wesley and the Ameri- 
can societies. As Mr. Wesley was an Episco- 
palian, he wished that the organization should 
be episcopal ; and this doubtless was the wish 
of the societies. In England the Wesleyan 
societies, as we have already stated, were 
considered as an appendage to the Established 
church. In America they must be indepen- 
dent ; and, while they desired to be episcopal, 
they more strongly perhaps desired to retain 
their itinerant ministry, and other peculiarities 
which had providentially grown up with them. 
To be episcopal they must have a bishop 
among themselves ; but there were two reasons 
why they did not ask some bishop of the Eng- 



166 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

lish church to ordain one of their clergymen 
to be a bishop. They had reason to think 
they would be refused, as a request some time 
before for the ordination of a preacher had not 
been granted, and they feared if the English 
church ordained their bishops it would claim 
some authority over them. Wesley, by the 
rules of that church, could not by his ordination 
set apart a clergyman as a bishop ; for he was 
only an elder himself. But he so far went 
contrary to the authority and teaching of his 
own church as to claim by the laying on of his 
own hands, with the assistance of another elder, 
to set apart Thomas Coke, an " elder" of the 
English church, to be a bishop of the United 
Methodist societies in America. He, with 
others in the same office as himself in the 
church, set apart Richard Whatcoat and Thomas 
Vasey to be " elders" in the American societies. 
This " bishop" and these "elders" came to 
America and ordained Francis Asbury a bishop ; 
and thus the Methodist societies claimed to 
have authority to complete an episcopal or- 
ganization. Mr. Wesley urged many reasons 
for his course in this important business. With 
these reasons many were not satisfied, and he 
was much blamed. His brother Charles was 
one of the most decided in his opposition. He 
did not believe that his brother John had a 
right thus to ordain. We will not attempt to 
argue the question here, but refer our youthful 
readers, as they shall become old enough to 



EXTENDED ITINERATING. 167 

study such matters, to larger works, only re- 
- minding them that Christians may and should 
love each other while they honestly differ con- 
cerning the manner of governing the church 
1 All agree that it is of the first and principal 
importance to be holy. 

The General Conference of the American 

• societies received Mr. Coke and Mr. Asbury 

as their general "superintendents,"— a name 

■ by which Mr. Wesley preferred they should be 
I designated rather than "bishops." From this 

time Mr. Wesley had but little to do with the 
j American societies, though they still paid him 
a respectful deference. 

While the Wesleyan revival was thus spread- 
ing on this continent, the West India islands 
were feeling its influence. In one of his visits 
■to America Dr. Coke was accidentally detained 
at Antigua Here he found a class-leader 
trom England, who had already formed a small 
class. The preaching of Coke gave them 
much encouragement; and from this time the 
work spread, missionaries were sent to them 
and great good was accomplished. 

■ Wesley, having thus seen the "connection" 
-which he directed spreading far and wide, be- 
came anxious concerning its government after 
his death. After much reflection and consul- 
tation, a legal provision was made to transfer 

ns authority to a conference of a hundred 
■{ravelling preachers, who should collectively 
let for the whole body. This "Legal Hun- 



168 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY 






dred," and their successors in office, have con- 
tinued, with an occasional modification of their 
duties, the same relation to the Wesleyan con- 
nection in England to the present time. 

We have now approached a late period in 
the life of Wesley and his surviving co- 
labourers. We must return in our remaining 
sketch to more personal matters. 



SAVING AND GIVING. 169 



CHAPTER XVIII- 

SAVING AND GIVING. 

"Ye are not your own" is a great truth of 
the gospel; your time, your position, your 
property, are all God's, to be used for his glory. 
When this truth shall be fully felt by every 
individual Christian, then a glorious era will 
dawn on the world. One of the greatest means 
will then be possessed by the church of extend- 
ing the gospel over all the earth. 

We have given, we think, in these pages, 
evidence that John Wesley and his companions 
in the ministry preached the truths of the gos- 
pel as they understood them, with faithfulness^ 
and success, and that they experienced in a large 
measure the power of those truths on their own 
hearts. An additional evidence of their sincere 
piety will be afforded in this chapter, and in 
the exhibition of the fact that they gave all 
their substance to the work of God. They did 
not regard money as valueless. They did not 
affect to despise it, nor did they squander it 
foolishly. They carefully guarded against use- 
less expenditures; they sowed precious seed 
in almsgiving " plentifully/ ' We shall pre- 
sent the reader with a few illustrations of these 

15 



170 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

statements from among many which are at 
hand. 

Lady Glenorchy — the "Lady Huntingdon 
of Scotland," as she has been called — has been 
introduced to the reader. " Her private chari- 
ties," says her biographer, "were indeed num- 
berless, and a great part of them unknown. 
She paid the entire salary of many ministers ; 
others she assisted when insufficiently sup- 
ported. Six chapels are named as built by 
her, one costing thirty thousand dollars. At 
her decease she left thirty thousand dollars to 
the society in Scotland for 'propagating 
Christian Knowledge;' thirty thousand dollars 
to educate young men for the Christian minis- 
try, and the most of the rest of her fortune to 
charitable purposes." In these bequests she 
still uses an influence for good. 

An item in the financial account of the last 
year of the widow of Fletcher exhibits the 
characteristic habit of her Christian life. The 
entries in her memorandum-book (not intended 
probably to be seen by others) showed that 
her expenses were : — 

For personal apparel $5 00 

Donations to the poor 905 00 

In no year of her life did the sum expended 
for her own clothing exceed twenty dollars, 
while a large property was devoted to the 
orphan children of the poor. 



SAVING AND GIVING. 171 

Berridge commenced his ministry with a for- 
tune inherited from his father; and he could 
say in old age, "I have given all for Christ," 
in a sense more extensive and truly evangelical 
than most Christians. His property, like his 
physical strength, was an ever-ready offering 
in the service of Christ. He had no habits of 
self-indulgence by which money is wasted, and 
yet he is said to have been poor in old age 
almost to destitution. 

Lady Huntingdon stands eminent for be- 
nevolence. She gave ftway for religious pur- 
poses about five hundred thousand dollars. 

"It was said by Captain Scott (an intimate 
and valued friend) that her ladyship was so 
generous and bountiful that she did actually 
give to every one who asked her, until, her 
stock being exhausted, she was destitute. At 
length it became really necessary to conceal 
cases from her. On one occasion the captain, 
with some other ministers, having a case pre- 
sented to them, and believing the good countess 
would give, though she could ill afford to do so, 
resolved not to acquaint her with it. By some 
means, however, her ladyship heard of the case, 
and likewise of the combination of the ministers 
to conceal it, with which conduct she was ex- 
ceedingly grieved, and, the moment she saw 
Captain Scott, said she could not have thought 
it of him. She burst into tears, and exclaimed, 
4 1 have never taken any ill at your hands 
before, but this I think is very unkind/ 



172 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

She then gave five hundred dollars to the 
case."* 

John Wesley followed the rule of doing good 
of every possible sort to the souls and the bodies 
of men. 

Perceiving how much the poor suffered for 
the want of proper medical treatment, he 
opened an office in London for gratuitous advice 
and free distribution of medicine. Having 
acquired at the university some knowledge of 
the medical profession, and adopting a simple 
mode of practice, he w^s able, by being in the 
office certain hours of the day when he was in 
the city, to render valuable service. 

Seeing the embarrassments of honest trades- 
men for the want of money to start in business, 
he established for their benefit a kind of " Mu- 
tual Loan Stock." His aim was to prevent 
the payment of unreasonable interest. He 
went from one acquaintance to another who 
could command ready money, and persuaded 
them to loan money to the stock. The fund 
was then intrusted to the hands of two stew- 
ards, who were ready every Tuesday morning 
to lend small sums for a limited time to those 
who gave assurances of need and integrity. 
During the first year of this enterprise two 
hundred and fifty persons were assisted. 

He established an asylum for poor widows. 
By appealing to the rich, money was obtained 

"Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon." 



SAVING AND GIVING. 173 

for a building, and by the collections in the 
societies means were secured to make com- 
fortable a large number, who found, in this 
Christian retreat, a quiet enjoyment they could 
not otherwise have obtained. 

We have already noticed the measures which 
were begun by Whitefield and carried out by 
Wesley, for improving the condition of the 
children at Kingswood. Care for the bodily 
and spiritual wants of children was ever a 
prominent object with him. He used his ex- 
tensive acquaintance and great influence with 
the wealthy to secure the means of their sup- 
port (when destitute) and of their education. 

Following up his plans for the mental as 
well as religious improvement of his people, 
Wesley wrote many religious tracts for gratui- 
tous distribution. As early as 1744, we find 
nearly fifty tracts published by the two bro- 
thers, some of which have on the title-page, 
"Not to be sold, but given away." In the 
year 1787, they printed a sheet " catalogue/' 
containing no less than two hundred and sixty- 
five works published by them, rising in price from 
one penny to one shilling or eighteen-pence, 
to meet the case of the poor, and some of 
them in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh 
edition. 

John Wesley prepared books for children. 
He published elementary works for the study 
of the English, French, Latin and Greek lan- 
guages. He prepared and sent forth from the 
15* 



174 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

press concise works (in a popular form) on 
English, Roman, and church history, and a 
treatise on Natural Philosophy. To meet the 
wants of the masses more fully, he published a 
"Christian Library" of select works, in fifty 
volumes. In the course of his life he sent 
forth, in connection with his brother Charles 
Wesley, several volumes of poetry, written 
mostly by the latter, some of the hymns being 
written by other members of the Wesley family 
and some selected. Besides the above publica- 
tions, he printed volumes of sermons, journals, 
&c, which would make a respectable catalogue 
of issues from the press even for our own day 
of steam and power-presses. 

These statements are in place in this con- 
nection ; for these books were made a public 
gratuity in a manner we shall hereafter more 
fully explain. 

Some men have a tact for inducing others to 
give without drawing liberally upon their own 
resources. But Wesley influenced others to 
give by the force of his own example. " His 
liberality knew no bounds but an empty pocket. 
He gave away not merely a part of his income, 
but all that he had. His own wants being 
provided for, he devoted all the rest to the 
necessities of others. He entered upon this 
good work at a very early period. We are 
told that when he had thirty pounds a year he 
lived on twenty-eight and gave away forty 
shillings. The next year, receiving sixty 



SAVING AND GIVING. 175 

pounds, lie still lived on twenty-eight, and gave 
away thirty-two pounds. The third year he 
received ninety pounds, and gave away sixty- 
two. The fourth year he received one hun- 
dred and twenty pounds. Still he lived on 
twenty-eight, and gave to the poor ninety-two. 
During the rest of his life he lived economically ; 
and in the course of fifty years it has been sup- 
posed he gave away more than one hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. When nearly 
ninety years of age, he made with a trembling 
hand the following last financial entry in his 
journal: — 'I shall keep no more accounts. 
It must suffice that I give to God all I can, 
— that is, all I have.' " 

The means for this large charity was ob- 
tained mostly from the sale of his books. His 
motto was to "save all he could and give all 
he could." In consequence of his connection 
in his later years with a numerous people, he 
was accused of making himself rich. With this 
impression the commissioners of government, 
in 1776, sent him the following note : — 

"Reverend Sir: — As the commissioners 
cannot doubt that you have plate for which you 
have hitherto neglected to make an entry, they 
have directed me to send you a copy of the lords' 
order, and to inform you that they expect that 
you forthwith make the entry of all your plate, 
such entry to bear date from the commencement 
of the plate duty, or from such time as you have 



176 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

owned, used, had or kept any quantity of silver 
plate, chargeable by the act of Parliament, as 
in default thereof the board will be obliged to 
signify your refusal to their lordships. 

"N. B. — An immediate answer is re- 
quested." 

To this note Mr. Wesley thus replied : — 

" Sir : — I have two silver tea-spoons at Lon- 
don and two at Bristol. This is all the plate 
which I have at present, and I shall not buy 
any more while so many around me want bread. 
"I am, sir, your most humble servant, 
"John Wesley." 

When Wesley was travelling at one time in 
Ireland, his carriage became fixed in the mire, 
and the harness broke. While he was labour- 
ing with his companion to extricate himself 
from this difficulty, a poor man in great dis- 
tress passed that way. He said that his 
family were about to be turned from their home 
for an unpaid rent of twenty shillings. He 
had tried every expedient to raise money, but 
still he lacked that amount. "Is that all?" 
says Wesley, giving the man more than that 
amount; "here, go and be happy;" and, turn- 
ing to his companion, he said, pleasantly, "You 
see now why our carriage stopped here in the 
mud." 

While travelling on foot to an appointment 
with one of the preachers, being overtaken by 



SAVING AND GIVING. 177 

a shower they stopped at a cottage. The time 
during the rain was improved by religious con- 
versation and prayer. The occupant of the 
house proved to be a widow, with whose piety 
and poverty Wesley was deeply moved. As 
they retired, he slipped a piece of coin into her 
hand. Having regained the road, he turned 
to the preacher, and said, with emotion, " Tho- 
mas, did you see that tear when I gave her the 
money ? What fools are they who deny them- 
selves the pleasure of such sights when they 
can purchase them so cheap !" 

Thus this extraordinary man sowed beside 
all waters, by organizing benevolent societies, 
stimulating the love of giving of the rich, in- 
ducing the poor as well as the wealthy to cul- 
tivate habits of economy ; and especially by his 
own example, he was directly and indirectly 
the instrument of putting in circulation for 
the promotion of morality and religion a great 
amount of money. 

Who will adopt his principles of saving and 
giving, and do what they can ? 



178 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

In the course of this narrative we have 
presented the facts concerning John Wesley, 
which exhibit him as the director of a nume- 
rous religious people. We have seen him also 
engaged constantly in travelling, preaching, 
delivering frequent public addresses, and lead- 
ing almost daily the devotions of social circles 
for prayer and religious instruction. "For 
forty-two years and upwards he generally de- 
livered two, frequently three or four, sermons 
in a day. But, calculating at two sermons a 
day, and allowing, as a writer of his life has 
done, fifty annually for extraordinary occa- 
sions, the whole number during this period will 
be forty thousand five hundred and sixty. To 
these we are to add a great number of exhorta- 
tions to societies after preaching and in other 
occasional meetings at which he assisted.' ' In 
addition to these public duties of governing the 
societies and preaching, it will be recollected 
that his pen was always at work. His " Jour- 
nals," published letters, tracts on various 
practical subjects, sermons, grammars, works 
on philosophy, history and science, with various 




12 3 

HAMILTON, WESLEY AND COE, 

s seen walking in the streets of Edinburg in 1790. 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER. 179 

volumes abridged for his " Christian Library," 
all together make an amount of reading matter 
truly astonishing, when we remember the other 
labour amid which it was prepared for the 
press. An interesting question occurs : — how 
was so much accomplished? Fortunately, we 
are able to answer somewhat fully this ques- 
tion. For more than sixty years he rose at 
four o'clock. The quiet of the morning was 
devoted to prayer, reading, and the labours of 
the pen. That he might do this^ he retired at 
an early and stated hour, even though he was 
enjoying an evening of the most delightful 
conversation with friends. He records the 
remarkable fact of his power to command sleep 
the instant he threw himself upon his couch. 
Thus his moments in bed were all improved to 
restore the strength of the physical and mental 
powers for their extraordinary exertions. 

No man perhaps^ever exceeded John Wesley 
in his high appreciation and practical improve- 
ment of time. He was mindful to improve not 
days and hours only, but moments. 

One day his chaise was not at the door at 
the required time. He had put up his pen and 
left his study. When it arrived, he remarked, 
"You have caused me to lose ten minutes for- 
ever !" 

A friend of easy habits once said to him, to 
restrain his purpose of leaving immediately, 
"You need not be in a hurry, sir." "A 
hurry!" replied Wesley; "no, I have no time 



180 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

to be in a hurry.' ' He did every thing quietly 
and with apparent slowness. 

The eccentric and learned Dr. Samuel John- 
son said to Mrs. Hall, a sister of Wesley, .with 
whom he was intimate, "I like your brother 
nuch, but he is never at leisure; he must 
always go at an appointed moment. This is 
very disagreeable to one who loves to fold his 
legs and have his talk out, as I do." 

For many years Wesley read on horseback ; 
at a later period he studied and wrote in his 
carriage, giving the reins to his travelling com- 
panion, or, if alone, committing his safety to 
the steady habits of his horse. Few certainly 
could do this ; but the kind providence of God 
favoured Wesley's determined energy, and 
from this practice he derived great advantage. 

To his industry Wesley united the most 
exact order. An intimate friend, who knew 
him many years, says he t never saw his study 
in disorder, — not even a book or an article of 
furniture displaced. No article of his apparel 
was ever out of place, nor improperly adjusted 
when he had dressed. He was always ready 
to leave his room to go before the public con- 
gregation, to visit the sick, or to receive the 
calls of friendship and of business. In con- 
nection with his improvement of time and 
order, we should remember that he devoted an 
hour in the morning and in the evening to 
private prayer. He says, "I allow no pre- 
tence nor excuse whatever to interfere with 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER. 181 

these hours.' ' When we remember how he 
was often situated, this practice will impress us 
with the severity of his self-discipline. 

As the result perhaps in part of his economy 
of time and in part of natural temperament, 
he expressed himself briefly, sometimes per- 
emptorily and sternly. There was not un- 
frequently in these expressions a sharpness 
which wounded his friends and offended those 
not charitably disposed. "Wesley was aware 
of this weakness, and generally avoided it ; but 
when it was for a moment indulged he was 
ready promptly to correct himself. Most of 
his brief replies are full of kindness and wis- 
dom. One of his followers once asked advice 
concerning his future course. He was op- 
pressed with poverty and had a dependent 
family. In these circumstances a rich relative 
proposed to give him an ample fortune, on con- 
dition that he would withdraw from all active 
interest in the societies and enjoy his income. 
In answer to the question, "What shall I do? 
May I not serve Grod in a more quiet, retired 
way?" Wesley replied, "Now, John, is your 
time to provide a future competency for your 
family, to secure for yourself position and in- 
fluence in the world ; but remember, John, you 
have a soul to save." John took the hint, and 
rejected the fortune. 

The Rev. Henry Moore, who became sub- 
sequently one of Wesley's biographers, was 
travelling in the early part of his ministry. 
16 



182 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

He says, "I sometimes travelled all day, 
preached three or four times, and had no food 
except a turnip or a carrot by the roadside. 
Once I borrowed a fellow-labourer's coat while 
mine was being patched." In this state of 
affairs he wrote to Mr. Wesley, under whom he 
was preaching, and requested his help. The 
following is a copy of the letter he received in 
reply : — 

"Dear Henry: — 'Unto you it is given in 
behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but 
also to suffer for his sake.' Take the cup with 
thankfulness. 

" I am, dear Henry, your affectionate brother, 

"John Wesley." 

The following is strikingly characteristic : — 

" Mr. Joseph Bradford was for some years the 
travelling companion of Mr. Wesley, for whom 
he would have sacrificed health and even life, 
but to whom his will would never bend except 
in meekness. 

"' Joseph,' said Mr. Wesley one day, Hake 
these letters to the post.' 

"'I will take them after preaching, sir.' 

"'Take them now, Joseph.' 

"'I wish to hear you preach, sir; and there 
will be sufficient time for the post after 
service.' 

" 4 I insist upon you going now, Joseph.' 

"'I will not go at present.' 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER. 183 

"'You won't?' 

"'No, sir.' 

" ' Then you and I must part.' 

"'Very good, sir.' 

"The good men slept over it. Both were 
early risers. At four o'clock the next morn- 
ing the refractory ' helper' was accosted with — 
' Joseph, have you considered what I said ? — 
that we must part?' 

'"Yes, sir.' 

'"And must we part?' 

'"Please yourself, sir.' 

'"Will you ask my pardon, Joseph?' 

'"No, sir.' 

'"You won't?' 

'"No, sir.' 

"'Then I will ask your's, Joseph.' 

"Poor Joseph was instantly melted." 

On one of his visits to Liverpool, during a 
season of unusual destitution and suffering 
among the poor, Wesley was surrounded with 
importunate beggars. They had learned by 
experience that he was a "cheerful giver." 
His purse being soon emptied, he was just step- 
ping into his carriage, when a fresh and more 
solicitous party assailed him. As he shut the 
carriage-door, he exclaimed, "I have no more 
to give; can I feed all the poor of Liverpool?" 
As the carriage moved off, he threw himself 
thoughtfully for some time into a corner. 
Then, arousing himself, he said, feelingly, "I 
was wrong. I could have given them soft 



184 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



words at least, though I had no more money 
to give." 

It was a harder lesson to learn to bear 
patiently the loss of his good name, — to aim to 
do good, and yet to be accused of seeking to 
do evil, — to conscientiously endeavour to go 
about doing good, and yet to be reviled as a 
" pestilent fellow." He was called to bear many 
such tests of willingness to suffer the loss of all 
things for Christ's sake. His niece — Miss 
Sarah Wesley, the daughter of Charles Wesley, 
whose old age came down to our own day — re- 
lates the following incident, which will be in- 
teresting in this connection. Her uncle had 
promised to call on a certain day at her father's 
residence and take her to Canterbury. She 
was but a child, and the promised ride was an- 
ticipated with great delight. But in the mean 
time Mrs. John Wesley had caused to be cir- 
culated in her father's neighbourhood reports 
unfavourable to her husband's character, pro- 
fessedly founded upon letters to his female cor- 
respondents which she had intercepted. Miss 
Sarah Wesley says, "My dear father, to whom 
the reputation of my uncle was far dearer than 
his own, immediately saw the importance of 
refutation, and set off to the foundry to induce 
him to postpone his journey, while I in my 
own mind was lamenting the disappointment I 
must in consequence experience. Never shall 
I forget the manner in which my father ac- 
costed my mother on his return home. 'My 



e y 



OLD AGE. 185 

brother/ said he, 'is indeed an extraordinary 
man. I placed before him the importance of 
the character of a minister, — the evil conse- 
quences which might result from indifference 
to it to the cause of religion, — stumbling-blocks 
cast in the way of the weak, — and urged him by 
every relative and public motive to answer for 
himself and stop the intended publication of 
the letters. His reply was, " Brother, wdien I 
devoted to God my ease, my time, my life, did 
I except my reputation ? No ; tell Sally I will 
take her to Canterbury to-morrow!" Miss 

Wesley adds that "the letters in question were 
satisfactorily proved to be mutilated, and no 
scandal resulted from his trust in God." 



CHAPTER XX. 

OLD AGE — "THE LAST OF EARTH." 

Having been made somewhat acquainted 
with' the labours and character of Wesley, it 
would be pleasing as nearly as possible to see 
him in his old age. We must place in our 
mind's picture a man much below the common 
stature, slight in form, — that is, altogether a 
little man, — with an eye bright and piercing, 
and an aquiline nose, with locks as white as 
16* 



186 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

falling snow, and a fair complexion and smooth 
forehead, though about eighty-eight years have 
passed over him. Approaching such an age 
and still labouring, let us for a few moments 
follow and see and hear him. 

Upon entering his seventy-second year he 
thus speaks: — " How is this, that I find just 
the same strength as I did thirty years ago ? 
that my sight is considerably better now and 
my nerves firmer than they were then ? that I 
have none of the infirmities of old age and 
have lost several I had in my youth? The 
grand cause is the good pleasure of God, who 
does whatsoever pleaseth him. The chief 
means are my constantly rising at four for 
about fifty years; my generally preaching at 
five in the morning, — one of the most healthy 
exercises in the world ; my never travelling 
less by sea or land than four thousand five 
hundred miles a year; the ability, if ever I 
want, to sleep immediately; the never losing 
a night's sleep in my life ; two violent fevers 
and two deep consumptions. These, it is true, 
were rough medicines, but they were of admi- 
rable service, causing my flesh to come again 
as the flesh of a little child. May I add, lastly, 
evenness of temper? — I feel &nd grieve, but, by 
the grace of God, I fret at nothing. But still 
the help that is done upon earth, He doeth it 
himself; and this he doth in answer to my 
prayers." 

On entering his eighty-sixth year he ex- 



OLD AGE. 187 

claims, "How little have I suffered yet by 'the 
rush of numerous years !' I do not find any 
decay in my hearing, smell, taste, or appetite, 
(though I want but a third part of the food I 
did once;) nor do I feel any such thing as 
weariness either in travelling or preaching. 
And I am not conscious of any decay in 
writing sermons, which I do as readily and I 
believe as correctly as ever." 

And this old age, so favoured of God, was 
honoured by men. When he was eighty-six 
years of age, he visited Falmouth. At this 
place in Kis early itinerating he had suffered 
great persecution, and here Whitefield was 
nearly killed for preaching Christ. Now a 
wonderful change has taken place. Forty 
years have rolled away, and the seed sown has 
produced a rich harvest. Dense crowds thronged 
the streets, and eager spectators filled the bal- 
conies and windows. As Wesley pressed his 
way through, handkerchiefs waved, and shouts 
rent the air, more sincere and joyful than ever 
hailed a triumphant warrior. Many thousand 
persons followed him to the side of a green hill 
near the sea-shore, to hear the words of the 
honoured old man. 

Perhaps no fact shows more impressively 
the frame of his mind in old age than the un- 
affected love he felt for youth and children. 
Little incidents sometimes indicate great truths. 
One of the last times he preached, a little child 
had sat down on the narrow stairs leading to 



188 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 



the pulpit. As Wesley passed lie took the 
child in his arms and gently kissed it, and, 
returning it to its chosen seat, passed into the 
desk. 

The poet, Robert Southey, in disclaiming 
only a few years before his death, to a distin- 
guished Wesleyan preacher, any intention of 
wronging Wesley by the sentiments contained 
in the biography he had written of him, related 
the following interesting incident: — "I may 
have been mistaken, (in my views of him ;) but 
an enemy of John Wesley I could not be. 
Some of my earliest recollections and associa- 
tions are in his favour. When I was a mere 
child, I was in a house in Bristol where he was. 
On running down-stairs before him with a 
beautiful little sister of my own, whose ringlets 
were floating over her shoulders, he overtook 
us on the landing, when he took my sister in 
his arms and kissed her. Placing her on her 
feet again, he then put his hand upon my head 
and blessed me; and I feel," continued the 
bard, highly impassioned, his eyes glistening 
with tears, and yet in a tone of tender and 
grateful recollection, — "I feel as though I had 
the blessing of that good man upon me at the 
present moment." 

When Wesley was leaving England on his 
last visit to Ireland, a son of one of his early 
and warm friends was introduced to him. 
Wesley at once feelingly inquired of the young 
man if he was a child of God. On being an- 






OLD AGE. 189 

swered in the negative, Wesley lifted up his 
eyes towards heaven, his hands clasped as if in 
earnest prayer, while the tears stole silently 
down his venerable face. In a few moments 
he bade the child of his sainted friend an affec- 
tionate adieu. On his return from Ireland he 
was met by a messenger, ere his vessel had 
reached the shore, with the news that the 
young man had professed saving faith in Christ. 
The news quite overcame him ; and he burst 
into tears and returned thanks aloud to God. 

Everywhere the youth and children crowded 
about him for his blessing. At Sheffield, when 
he was about eighty-seven years of age, so im- 
pressed were the people that they should see 
his face no more, that they made the help of a 
friend necessary to open his way through the 
crowd from the preaching-place to his lodgings. 
When with difficulty he reached it, he found it 
surrounded with children and the poor, who 
had gone there to make sure of his blessing. 
On attempting to speak to them, his voice was 
drowned by their loud weeping, — "sorrowing 
that they should see his face no more." 

To the very last "of his life the boys at the 
school in Kingswood were the subjects of his 
paternal care. When he was visiting them, as 
he thought, for the last time, two lads were 
brought before him by the master under the 
grave charge of fighting. Silently he led them 
to his own room, and called for the supper of 
which he was about to partake. He requested 



190 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

the boys to eat together with him. After they 
had eaten, he said, " Now, my children, you have 
eaten together, and you should love each other. 
Go with my blessing, and be friends. " 

The boys lost their enmity towards each 
other ; and after many years one of these boys, 
on a judge's bench, related the circumstance as 
we have given it, and its happy effect upon his 
mind. 

We close these illustrations with the testi- 
mony of a friend, Mr. Knox, who knew him 
for twenty-five years, but who was not of his 
connection and differed from him in doctrinal 
sentiments. He says, "Very lately (1789, 
less than two years before Wesley's death) I 
had an opportunity for some days together of 
observing Mr. Wesley with attention. I en- 
deavoured to consider him not so much with 
the eye of a friend as the impartiality of the 
philosopher ; and, I must declare, every hour I 
spent in his company afforded me fresh reasons 
for esteem and veneration. So fine an old man 
I never saw! The happiness of his mind 
beamed forth in his countenance. Every 
look showed how fully he enjoyed 

The gay remembrance of a life well spent. 

Wherever he went he diffused a portion of his 
own felicity. Easy and affable in his demean- 
our, he accommodated himself to every sort of 
company, and showed how happily the most 
finished courtesy may be blended with the 



OLD AGE. 191 

most perfect piety. In his conversation we 
might be at a loss which to admire most, — his 
fine classical taste, his extensive knowledge of 
men and things, or his overflowing goodness of 
heart. While the grave and serious were 
charmed with his wisdom, his sportive sallies 
of innocent mirth delighted even the young 
and thoughtless ; and both saw, in his uninter- 
rupted cheerfulness, the excellency of true reli- 
gion. No cynical remarks on the levity of 
youth embittered his discourse. No applausive 
retrospect to past times marked his present 
discontent. In him even old age appeared de- 
lightful, like an evening without a cloud ; and 
it was impossible to observe him without wish- 
ing fervently, ' May my latter end be like his !" 

But Wesley began now to feel and acknow- 
ledge that the infirmities of age were upon 
him. On entering his eighty-seventh year, he 
says, "I now find I grow old. My sight is 
decayed, so that I cannot read a small print, 
except in a strong light. My strength is de- 
cayed, so that I walk much slower than I did 
some years since. My memory of names, 
whether of persons or places, is decayed ; I am 
obliged to stop a little to recollect them." 

At the beginning of the following year, 
(1790,) he adds, "I am now an old man, de- 
cayed from head to foot. My eyes are dim. 
My right hand shakes much. My mouth is 
hot and dry every morning. I have a linger- 
ing fever almost every day. My motion is 



192 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

weak and slow. However, blessed be God, I 
do not slack my labour. I can preach and 
write still." 

Yet he continued to rise at four o'clock, and 
went through the duties of the day without 
complaint and with astonishing resolution. 
He said, "I would yet do a little for God be- 
fore I drop into the dust." 

While thus waiting for the Head of the 
church to say, "Come up higher," he one day 
stood before an immense audience at the City 
Road Chapel, London. The occasion had 
called up moving recollections of the past and 
the solemn future. He felt at that moment 
that of all the friends of his great labour he 
stood almost alone. His brothers and sisters, 
with the exception of one sister, were gone. 
He was enraptured with the hope of a speedy 
and eternal re-union. Standing up before the 
congregation with closed eyes, and seeming 
entirely absorbed in the theme, he repeated 
verse by verse the following hymn by his 
brother Charles, which the whole congregation 
united in singing : — 

Come, let us join our friends above, 

Who have obtain' d the prize, 
And on the eagle-wings of love 

To joys celestial rise. 

Let all the saints terrestrial sing, 

With those to glory gone ; 
For all the servants of our King 

In earth and heaven are one. 



OLD AGE. 193 

One family we dwell in him, 

The church above, beneath, 
Though now divided by the stream — 

The narrow stream — of death, 

One army of the living God, 

To his command we bow ; 
Part of his hosts have cross' d the flood, 

And part are crossing now. 

Ten thousand to their endless home 

This solemn moment fly ; 
And we are to the margin come, 

And we expect to die. 
* * * * 

Lord Jesus ! be our constant guide ; 

And, when the word is given, 
Bid death's cold flood its waves divide, 

And land us safe in heaven. 

Wesley's deep emotion, the impressive circum- 
stances in which the words were uttered, and 
the song as it swelled in tender strains from 
a thousand voices, made this a memorable oc- 
casion. 

On Wednesday, February 23, 1791, in the 
eighty-eighth year of his age, he preached his 
last sermon. He closed the service by repeat- 
ing the words of a favourite verse : — 

Oh that without a lingering groan 
I may the welcome word receive ; 

My body with my charge lay down, 
And cease at once to work and live. 

He returned home unwell, and was soon pros- 
trate with increasing disease. The next day, 
rousing from a brief wandering of mind, he 
17 



194 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

said, with a distinct voice, " Ye know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was 
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that 
ye through his poverty might be rich. That 
is the foundation," he continued, — "the only 
foundation. There is no other. How neces- 
sary it is for every one to be on the right 
foundation ! 

"I the chief of sinners am, 
Yet Jesus died for me." 

So rapidly, though gently, did he approach 
the hour of his dissolution, that on Tuesday he 
made several unsuccessful attempts to speak. 
Rallying at length his little remaining strength, 
he lifted up his dying arms in token of victory, 
and cried out, "The best of all is, God is with 
us." After a short pause, he repeated, "The 
best of all is, God is with us." As eternity 
drew nearer, he whispered, "He causeth his 
servants to lie down in peace;" "The Lord is 
with us, and the God of Jacob is our refuge." 
On Wednesday morning he gently sunk into 
the arms of death. 

Life's labour done, as sinks the clay, 
Light from its load the spirit flies, 

While heaven and earth combine to say, 
1 'How blest the righteous when he dies!" 

Our narrative may be appropriately closed 
with the observations of one who visited the 
grave of Wesley as lately as the year 1854 : — 

"Exactly opposite Bunhill-fields burial- 



THE LAST OF EARTH. 195 

ground stands 'The City Road Chapel,' and at 
the rear of the chapel is the grave surmounted 
by the monument of 'Wesley.' 

" The monument holds the most conspicuous 
place in this small burial-ground, and lifts up 
its head in the midst of graves occupied by the 
elder members of that great family of which 
he was the father. Its inscription gives the 
second of March, 1791, as the day when, to 
quote a favourite line, — 

The weary -wheels of life stood still at last. 

On that day this venerable man was nearly 
eighty-eight years of age, and when the minis- 
ter who read the funeral service at his grave 
— the Rev. Mr. Richardson, who now lies with 
him in the same vault — substituted for the ex- 
pression 'our dear brother' the epithet 'father,' 
the effect was so powerful that the congrega- 
tion 'seemed universally to burst into loud 
weeping.' His funeral took place between five 
and six in the morning, and it was necessary 
to decide on that early hour to avoid a tumult ; 
so great had been the crowds who went to see 
the corpse while it lay in the coffin in the ad- 
joining house and afterwards in the chapel the 
day before the funeral. We need not the 
marble tablet to tell us that he was, ' in zeal, 
ministerial labours, and extensive usefulness, 
superior, perhaps, to all men, since the days 
of St. Paul;' or that, 'regardless of fatigue, 
personal danger, and disgrace, he went into 



196 LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY. 

the highways and hedges calling sinners to re- 
pentance and publishing the gospel of peace;' 
or that he was the founder of the Methodist 
societies, and the chief promoter and patron 
of the plan of itinerant preaching, which he 
extended through Great Britain and Ireland, 
the West Indies and America, with so great 
success. 

"When God sent his servant Ezekiel to 
' the rebellious nation that rebelled against 
him,' he promised that, whether they would 
hear or whether they would forbear, they 
should know that there had been a prophet 
among them. Multitudes of our countrymen, 
through the great grace of God, have heard 
the message delivered by the prophet he has 
sent to us ; and, while we pray to be kept from 
the hypocrisy and self-deception of those who 
' built the tombs of the prophets and garnished 
the sepulchres of the righteous,' we look with 
emotions of gratitude at the tomb which marks 
the resting-place of the mortal remains of this 
man of God, and cheerfully obey the counsel it 
affords : — 

"' Reader, if thou art constrained to 
admire the instrument, give god the 

GLORY.'" 

THE END. 



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